Introduction: Promise Keepers: A Comment on Religion and Social Movements

What to make of the Promise Keepers? In the current world of electronic 24hour news media with around-the-clock deadlines and instant analysis, the early answers have been concise, often unitary, and capable of being captured in a soundbite. Promise Keepers are a reactionary reassertion of patriarchal authority; they are a pawn of Christian Right political operatives; they are another sign of our current evangelical religious revival; they are part of a new phenomenon men coming to terms with their own vulnerabilities and resp0nsibilities. Promise Keepers is a new phenomenon; it is another example of that old-time religion; it is political; it is religious.