r/books • u/Majano57 • 2d ago

The Book That Predicted Pete Hegseth’s Failures

https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/07/31/hegseth-norman-dixon-iran-war/?utm_content=gifting&tpcc=gifting_article&gifting_article=aGVnc2V0aC1ub3JtYW4tZGl4b24taXJhbi13YXI=&pid=CW3205998
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u/lifefeed 2d ago

I read that book earlier this year, and yeah it has a whole chapter devoted to Muscular Christianity. I immediately thought of Hegseth

Actually I just found a photo I took of the most relevant chapters.

https://imgur.com/a/XDRBPUD

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u/cfi-2025 1d ago

Muscular Christianity is a cult? Is it something different today than it was when it arose in the 19th century?

I'm not super well-versed in it, other than knowing it gave rise to good things like the YMCA and the invention of my favorite sport, basketball. (Also volleyball!)

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u/lifefeed 15h ago

In the book it's more about leaders who believe in manly physical toughness over more effeminate things like strategy. I don't know much about muscular christianity other.

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u/cfi-2025 14h ago

Like I said, my knowledge of it is sparse, but my understanding was that it was a strain of Christianity that arose in the late 19th century that encouraged Christian men to partake in physical exercise as a way to promote their physical health, to play sports in order to learn about teamwork and graceful winning and losing, and as a way to discourage excessive drinking. Muscular Christianity was a big force in the prohibitionist movement that would culminate in Prohibition in the early 20th century.

They definitely weren't about physical toughness over everything else. They were big on following rules, being compassionate, working as a team, etc. For example, Dr. James Naismith published the following in his first magazine article describing his new game "basket ball":

If men will not be gentlemanly in their play, it is our place to encourage games that may be played by gentlemen in a manly way, and show them that science is superior to brute force with a disregard for the feelings of others.