This history describes how evangelical culture and its attitudes about masculinity have shaped white Christianity and American politics. In so doing, it tries to describe why evangelical Christians, supposedly the among the most devout and religious, have chosen to support a politician who is anything but devout and resembling the Bible’s Jesus. Frankly, Kristin Kobes du Mez, a minister’s daughter, does an honest, thorough job. The evangelicalism she describes is wedded more closely to patriarchy than the Christian tradition. How readers respond to her critique will tell more about themselves than her, I suggest.
I came from a home where evangelicalism was foundational in my parent’s marriage. As a youth, I read widely, but no one seemed to care what I thought or how I struggled so long as I supported an evangelical church. Looking to the Bible for guidance on how to live, I found its contents out of sync with the dynamics of my Southern Baptist church. For a while, I tried to support nontraditional churches on the fringe of evangelicalism that incorporated thought from wider society. I love reading historical, orthodox Christian theology, but again, find it out of sync with contemporary evangelical trends. In late 2015, I was appalled when trends in my former church overtook the national news. Today, I confess a Christian creed and value its Good News, but no longer consider myself an evangelical. I’m not sure I can trust the movement ever again. Thus, this book helped me come to terms with my personal struggles.
For me, this book reinforced and deepened many longstanding reservations about the movement. I’m more scholarly by nature, and the militant masculinity described here simply does not fit me culturally. I’ve always been the intellectual oddball in evangelical churches, and I’ve grown to believe that’s their problem, not mine. She describes how so many evangelical leaders in recent decades appeal to their masculine identity for authority. Despite appealing to “family values,” their actions do not support family members. Deep tribalism causes people to overlook or excuse others’ faults and prevent reform. Latent racism can make white evangelicals offensive and insulting to black Christians.
Obviously, this book has been and remains controversial. It’s also religious, so opinions will abound. I suggest it continues to deserve a fair hearing. I tired of reading so much history about toxic masculinity, but I think that’s the point. We need to move on from harmful attempts to control and dominate each other. This book gives us much to think about in the form of a fact-driven history. Many histories of evangelicalism stop somewhere in the 1980s or 1990s. Kobes du Mez brings us right up to the first Trump administration. Although historians will undoubtedly rewrite that narrative in coming decades, this book more than supplements the newspapers as a first draft.
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
By Kristin Kobes du Mez
Narrated by Suzie Althens
Copyright (c) 2020
Kalorama
ASIN B08C1G1XG3
Length: 12:03
Genre: American Christianity
www.amazon.com