I felt like I was reading a history of the struggles of my lifetime. From Billy Graham to Bill Gothard, with plenty of Pat Boone mixed in, along with Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, and others. The book provides something of a history of my own intellectual life at least, from a major chapter of my life. (The author is a Professor of History and Gender Studies at Calvin University). This is a provocative book, written by a careful researcher. And, I present synopses of books dealing with issues of social justice for the Urban Engagement Book Club, sponsored by CitySquare in Dallas (currently, only on Zoom).įor July, I presented my synopsis of the book Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez. I present synopses of business books at the First Friday Book Synopsis (in Dallas, in-person and over Zoom). Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

In learning how to be Christian men, evangelicals also learned how to think about sex, guns, war, borders, Muslims, immigrants, the military, foreign policy, and the nation itself.

It is linked to opposition to gay rights and gun control, to support for harsher punishments for criminals, to justifications for the use of excessive force against black Americans in law enforcement situations, and to traditionalist gender ideology.įROM THE START, evangelical masculinity has been both personal and political. Christian nationalism-the belief that America is God’s chosen nation and must be defended as such-serves as a powerful predictor of intolerance toward immigrants, racial minorities, and non-Christians.

From jesus to john wayne