Review of Martin Fischer, Mannermacht Und Mannerleid. Kritische Theologische Mannerforschung Im Kontext Genderperspektivierter Theologie Als Beitrag Zu Einer Gleichstellung Der Geschechter [Men's Power and Men's Pain: A Critical Theological Investigation of Men in the Context of a Gender Perspective Theology As a Contribution to Equality of the Sexes] (Gottingen: Edition Ruprecht, 2008), 314 Pp

In recent decades, theological women's studies have become an established discipline in theology. However, a theology that explicitly departs from a men's perspective in order to discuss issues of gender is less developed. Systematic theologian Martin Fischer has provided a significant contribution to open up this field of studies. With the defense of this dissertation, Fischer obtained his PhD degree from the Faculty of Protestant Theology at the University of Vienna. The book offers a critical analysis and evaluation of traditional Christian teaching concerning men. According to Fischer, this teaching has ambiguous consequences: on one hand it gives rise to male privileges, and on the other to male victimization. In his opinion, these are two sides of the same problematic coin of an ontological gender essentialism that is deeply rooted in the Christian tradition and gives rise to a dualism between men and women. The book is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to theological men's studies and to the quest of the thesis. Chapter 2 provides a theoretical positioning in the field of gender, queer and men's studies. Chapter 3 examines the issue of men's power from a systematic theological perspective, while Chapter 4 deals with the issue of men's pain, or what Fischer calls the "unprivileged" in the life of men.