The Power Team: Muscular Christianity and the Spectacle of Conversion

Abstract

At the center of a nondescript auditorium stage, John Jacobs, a thicknecked muscular man wearing a red-white-and-blue, stars-and-strips nylon athletic costume, stands in a spotlight. His wrists have been first wrapped in silver duct tape and then locked into handcuffs. Another similarly dressed man-Mike Hagen-stands a step behind Jacobs and demands silence so that Jacobs can concentrate on the ordeal of breaking the handcuffs. Hagen holds a microphone to Jacobs' face. Jacobs tells us, I am going to flex my arms and chest and upper back and push my body to the limit. His breathing is amplified as he strains against the handcuffs, first one way and then another, for perhaps as long as five minutes. At last, screaming, he breaks through the cuffs and triumphantly holds his now-separated hands above his head. The spectators cheer. Hagen, exultant, shouts: Let's give Jesus a hand! Come on! Jacobs takes the mike and chants: the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord (JJEA I99I). The chains of the devil have been broken. Once again Jacobs tells the audience that his exceptional strength is both a sign of his faith in Christ and a demonstration of the power of God. The breaking of handcuffs is the final act in a series of feats of strength, testimonials, and

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