https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392117702429 Current Sociology 1–18 © The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0011392117702429 journals.sagepub.com/home/csi CS Saved from hegemonic masculinity? Charismatic Christianity and men’s responsibilization in South Africa Marian Burchardt Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany Abstract In this article, the author explores the role of religion in social constructions of heterosexual masculinity in South Africa in the context of civil society driven programs to fight sexual and gender-based violence and the spread of HIV. Critically engaging with the concept of hegemonic masculinity and the sociological literature on gender relations in conservative Christian communities, the author examines how Charismatic Christian and Pentecostal communities in the townships of Cape Town negotiate their model of masculinity and gender authority in the context of the prevailing hegemonies of ‘traditional’ and ‘liberal’ masculinity. Based on ethnographic observations and qualitative interviews with Pentecostal men, the author specifies the concrete mechanisms whereby Pentecostalism both contributes to transform but also to reproduce rather than undermine hegemonic masculinity. He finds that Pentecostalism responsibilizes men not because men adopt its sexual ideology but because they adopt its model of personhood. Keywords Gender, masculinity, Pentecostalism, religion, South Africa Introduction In this article, I explore the role of religion in social constructions of heterosexual mascu- linity in South Africa. Thus far, most sociological studies on masculinities and gender rela- tions in contemporary South Africa, but also in other parts of the postcolonial world, Corresponding author: Marian Burchardt, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Hermann-Föge-Weg 11, 37073 Göttingen, Germany. Email: burchardt@mmg.mpg.de 702429CSI 0 0 10.1177/0011392117702429Current SociologyBurchardt research-article 2017 Article