Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality

There's a new online, open source journal in the world: Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality. It looks interesting, though a bit academic and stuffy. I haven't had a chance to read anything, but it feels pretty postmodern to me -- a bit too much span (horizontal) and not enough depth (vertical), but I could be jumping to conclusions.

Here is their introductory note on the home page:

The Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality (JMMS) is an online, scholarly, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal. JMMS is published twice a year with provision for other special editions.

JMMS seeks to be as inclusive as possible in its area of enquiry. Papers address the full spectrum of masculinities and sexualities, particularly those which are seldom heard. Similarly, JMMS addresses not only monotheistic religions and spiritualities but also Eastern, indigenous, new religious movements and other spiritualities which resist categorization. JMMS papers address historical and contemporary phenomena as well as speculative essays about future spiritualities. The academic interests of the editorial board reflect these diverse positions.

JMMS is an Open Access journal, which means it is available to all readers, free of charge.

The articles are all online as PDFs for easy downloading, which is a bit of hassle if you'd rather read online. Here is the table of contents as currently posted:

Editorial:
Joseph Gelfer, Editor's Note (pp. 1-2)

Research Notes:
Yvonne Maria Werner, Manliness and Catholic Mission in the Nordic Countries (pp. 3-18)

Anna Prestjan, Christian Social Reform Work as Christian Masculinization? A Swedish Example (pp. 19-34)

Articles:
Roland Boer, Skin Gods: Circumcising the Built Male Body (pp. 35-44)

Frank A. Salamone, Hausa Concepts of Masculinity and the ‘Yan Daudu (pp. 45-54)

David Shneer, Queer is the New Pink: How Queer Jews Moved to the Forefront of Jewish Culture (pp. 55-64)

Juan M. Marin, A Jesuit Mystic’s Feminine Melancholia: Jean-Joseph Surin (1600-1665) (pp. 65-76)

Rini Bhattacharya Mehta, The Bhagavadgita, Pistol, and the Lone Bhadralok: Individual Spirituality, Masculinity, and Politics in the Nationalist Writings of Aurobindo Ghose (1872-1950) (pp. 77-98)

Book Reviews:
Joseph Gelfer, Review of Bret Stephenson, From Boys to Men: Spiritual Rites of Passage in an Indulgent Age (pp. 99-100)

James Bryant, Review of Shayne Lee, T. D. Jakes: America’s New Preacher (pp. 101-102)

Wisam Mansour, Review of David M. Friedman, A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis (pp. 103-104)

Sophie Smith, Review of Lahoucine Ouzgane (Ed.), Islamic Masculinities (pp. 105-108)

Katharina von Kellenbach, Review of Herbert Anderson, Edward Foley, Bonnie Miller-McLemore and Robert Schreiter, Mutuality Matters: Family, Faith and Just Love (pp. 109-111)

Nathan Abrams, Review of Peter Lehman (Ed.), Pornography: Film and Culture (pp. 112-113)

Like I said, a bit stuffy.

They are also seeking papers:

JMMS is currently seeking papers and reviews. The deadline for the second issue is 10 MARCH 2007. JMMS will consider previously published papers that are not available elsewhere on the Internet if the author has retained copyright.

Authors are encouraged to use the online submissions system. If this proves problematic authors may submit via email attachment (MS Word or RTF file) to the Managing Editor.

Yasemin Besen of Montclair State University is editing a special edition of JMMS focusing on youth masculinities and spirituality for publication in August 2007. Anyone interested in contributing should email her directly for further information.

This is just the first issue, so I am hopeful that they will become a little more relevant over time.

Tags: Journal of Men Masculinities and Spirituality, open source journals, online journals, men, masculinity