Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
Description
Jesus and John Wayne is a sweeping, revisionist history of the last seventy-five years of white evangelicalism, revealing how evangelicals have worked to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism--or in the words of one modern chaplain, with "a spiritual badass."
As acclaimed scholar Kristin Du Mez explains, the key to understanding this transformation is to recognize the centrality of popular culture in contemporary American evangelicalism. Many of today's evangelicals might not be theologically astute, but they know their VeggieTales, they've read John Eldredge's Wild at Heart, and they learned about purity before they learned about sex--and they have a silver ring to prove it. Evangelical books, films, music, clothing, and merchandise shape the beliefs of millions. And evangelical culture is teeming with muscular heroes--mythical warriors and rugged soldiers, men like Oliver North, Ronald Reagan, Mel Gibson, and the Duck Dynasty clan, who assert white masculine power in defense of "Christian America." Chief among these evangelical legends is John Wayne, an icon of a lost time when men were uncowed by political correctness, unafraid to tell it like it was, and did what needed to be done.
Challenging the commonly held assumption that the "moral majority" backed Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 for purely pragmatic reasons, Du Mez reveals that Trump in fact represented the fulfillment, rather than the betrayal, of white evangelicals' most deeply held values: patriarchy, authoritarian rule, aggressive foreign policy, fear of Islam, ambivalence toward #MeToo, and opposition to Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ community. A much-needed reexamination of perhaps the most influential subculture in this country, Jesus and John Wayne shows that, far from adhering to biblical principles, modern white evangelicals have remade their faith, with enduring consequences for all Americans.
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Reviews
Brilliant and engaging... Across chapters ranging from 'John Wayne Will Save Your Ass' to 'Holy Balls, ' Du Mez peppers her text with entertaining (and sometimes horrifying) examples.--Matthew Avery Sutton
Paradigm-influencing. . . A very readable page-turner."--Scot McKnight
Interesting . . . I hear people say all the time that Trump's election was a tragedy for evangelicals, but after reading [this] book, I wonder if it isn't their greatest victory.--Sean Illing
Fascinating . . . Sure to be controversial, the author's closely reasoned argument is thoughtful and provoking.--Michael Cart
I endorse Kristin Du Mez's lively and readable account of evangelical political history, having personally seen it from the inside during nearly three decades with the National Association of Evangelicals. Those who legitimately ask 'How can evangelicals support Donald Trump?' need to read this book to understand why. An extraordinary work.--Reverend Richard Cizik, President of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good
The well-researched narrative is reasoned and dispassionate.... Readers not on the fringe right will find it difficult to take issue with her arguments. An evangelical-focused anti-Trump book that carries academic weight.
Wielding supreme command of evangelical theology, popular culture, history and politics, as well as rare skill with the pen, Kristin Kobes Du Mez explodes the myth that evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in spite of his crude machismo. It turns out that the opposite is true: for generations, white male evangelical leaders and their supportive wives have been building a movement of brazen masculinity and patriarchal authority, with hopes of finding a warrior who could extend their power to the White House. In Trump they found their man. This is a searing and sobering book, one that should be read by anyone who wants to grasp our political moment and the religious movement that helped get us here.--Darren Dochuk, author of Anointed With Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America
[An] engaging history of the shifting ideal of Christian masculinity. . . . Persuasively arguing that the evangelical dismissal of Trump's flaws is the culmination of believing that 'God-given testosterone came with certain side effects, ' Du Mez closes with a bruising chapter on recent evangelical leaders' abuses and sex scandals . . . This lucid, potent history adds a much needed religious dimension to understanding the current American right and the rise of Trump.
A much needed and painstakingly accurate chronicle of exactly 'where many evangelicals are, ' and the long road that got them there.--Tom Cox
Usually I will stay away from books on religion [but] the pop culture intersection of American politics and American evangelicalism proved tempting, and thankfully, most worthwhile. . . [Du Mez] has assembled all the top personalities and all the turning points in a fast-moving, if stomach-churning history that ultimately explains how America adopted Donald Trump. It is less than pretty. . . . This one has staying power. It is successful, and it is a shame.--David Wineberg
Jesus and John Wayne demolishes the myth that Christian nationalists simply held their noses to form a pragmatic alliance with Donald Trump. With brilliant analysis and detailed scholarship, Kristin Kobes Du Mez shows how conservative evangelical leaders have promoted the authoritarian, patriarchal values that have achieved their finest representative in Trump. A stunning exploration of the relationship between modern evangelicalism, militarism, and American masculinity."--Katherine Stewart, author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism
This deeply perceptive book establishes Kristin Kobes Du Mez as the Christian critic of this crisis moment. She demonstrates how a certain warrior fantasy saturated white evangelicalism and decided American elections. Along the way, we discover how our political life became defined by the conjunction of religion and popular culture. Required reading.--Kathryn Lofton, Yale University, author of Consuming Religion
