Yet, she was careful not to bring in her own biases and state her own positions in distilling the data and presenting the information as it unfolded historically. One reason I maintain this is because I found myself regularly wondering where she stood on many of the issues she critiques. Many who submitted a vote for Trump (either in 2016 or 2020) will discover reasons that helped them decide for him and against his opponents.ĭu Mez’s writing is straight-forward, objective, and fair-minded. Whether intentionally embracing Christianity or not, readers who question how Donald Trump came to occupy the White House will find the backstory in this book. Appreciating how this ideology developed over time is also essential for those who wish to dismantle it. Understanding the catalyzing role militant Christian masculinity has played over the past half century is critical to understanding American evangelicalism today, and the nation’s fractured political landscape. The historical lens of Jesus and John Wayne gives me this gives us this, and readers will only benefit from seeing the stark realities she uncovers. In her own words, Jesus and John Wayne helps us in I can identify and resist a false cultural narrative that is intentionally constructed for political gain in the name of Christianity. What I can have is an appropriate amount of recognition and determined refusal. I was reminded how an evangelicalism modeled after John Wayne, Braveheart, Mark Driscoll, James Dobson, Wayne Grudem, and John Piper (just to name a few) impacted me and my family. Still, I believe it’s important to understand what Du Mez reveals about an “evangelical, white, male faith” and the stronghold it has on the cultural it spawned. Having lived less than 2 miles from Focus on the Family campus headquarters, New Life Church (featuring the utter hypocrisy and massive moral failings of Ted Haggard see here), and having spent 18 of my 20 years stationed at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, there are not a few touch points that caused not a little grief as I look back (see especially pp 205-218). Practically every page confronted me with the kind of Christianity I was exposed to the first few decades of my Christian life. To sum the book simply, I would say it’s an especially well-written, carefully documented annotation of what has come to define evangelicalism in America. Reviewing the perspectives, mindsets, and ideologies integral to the ongoing conflation of religion with politics in the name of Christianity in America was not easy. For me, reading through Jesus and John Wayne was an arduous task. She argues (convincingly) that a “militant white evangelicalism thrives on a sense of embattlement” (p xviii). Like it or not, these ingredients promote or facilitate nationalism, racism, sexism, white maleness, authority, and political power. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.History scholar Kristin Kobes Du Mez rehearses the ingredients of a distinctly American evangelical culture. We may earn affiliate commissions through links listed here. (The Holy Post is supported by our listeners. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.) Jesus & John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation: Part 4 - 9/11 and the Neo-Calvinists (48:38) Part 3 - Purity Culture and Fragile Masculinity (32:47) Part 2 - Servant Leaders and Racial Reconciliation (15:36) Part 1 - Promise Keepers and Therapeutic Christianity Plus, why an emphasis on racial reconciliation ultimately doomed Promise Keepers, and how other ministries learned to avoid any talk about race or justice. Calvin University history professor Kristin Kobes Du Mez joins Skye Jethani to discuss her bestselling book, “Jesus & John Wayne.” In this episode, they examine why white evangelicalism left behind some of its militant rhetoric after the Cold War ended in the early 1990s to embrace a kinder, gentler approach epitomized by the Promise Keepers movement, and how an aggressive vision of Christian masculinity returned after September 11, 2001.
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