Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

41 reviews

kalebd_2125's review

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dark informative medium-paced

5.0

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trapdorr's review

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

Solid read. Interesting progression of how toxic masculinity truly lead to the ruin of the morality of Evangelicals. Very informative but I got a little lost when I came to names/identities of some of the key players.

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meredith_williams_'s review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

5.0

It took me a long time to be in a space to read this book. Based on the title and the reviews, I assumed this book would focus solely on the current Christian nationalist culture of the United States and Trump era politics. And while it certainly does give plenty of merited critique where those two things are concerned, it also gives the reader the necessary historical context to explain how the country has arrived at this point, and aims to prove that the 2016 election was the direct result of nearly a century’s long effort to weaponize religion for political gain.

On a personal level, this book was very validating in my decision to leave the evangelical church that I was raised in. It helped me to understand a lot of the political context that influenced my community, church, and family in the 90s and early 2000s, and it also made me think about my parents’ and grandparents’ generation and their experiences with religion in a new way.

Overall, this book taught me that the amalgamation of patriarchy, militarism, racism, and nationalism within the American church has directly resulted in the mass production of a religion that will continue to plague our country through a “submission theology” that “protects the privileges of the powerful” so long as we allow it to be repackaged and sold to the next generations.

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crownoflaurel's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.5

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kybeaty's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

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chloe_601's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

Listening to this book felt like tumbling down a bizarre and scary rabbit hole, with more and more developments introducing a new aspect of conservative evangelicalism, and documenting its slow rise through the background of American politics, eventually producing the election of Trump.

It is really well researched, and makes a connection between southern churches and anti-desegregation pastors, to pro-Vietnam war stances anchored by an ideal of rugged masculinity, to Nixon’s southern strategy and the party shift of the later 20th century. This continued with Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s and opposition to the Equal Rights amendment, through the 1990s and 2000s with support for the war on terror, all the way through the Obama presidency.

It felt like reading a bizarre conspiracy of shadow actors and insane interpretations of a religion, but I think that was just because I hadn’t made the connections between all the people and events before. The mentions of popular evangelical/christian media from when I was raised in that environment was slightly triggering but eye opening at the same time. I had heard and read a lot of accounts of abuse, both physical and mental, in some of the more authoritarian church environments when I deconstructed/left the faith, but reading a chapter listing out scandal after scandal shows just how horrific an environment it is for anyone who isn’t a white cis male.

The book was written from the perspective of someone who is a Christian themselves (though more progressive), which means their conclusions possibly weren’t as strong as I had hoped. But their analysis of the 2016 election, particularly their hypothesis for why evangelicals supported trump so strongly, was well-argued and made complete sense. It seemed like a contradiction at the time, but a deeper look shows that this momentum had been building for the better part of 50 years. Their support mainly came from a place of feeling threatened by not being the dominant majority anymore, and they wanted a strongman to “protect” them.

As scary and dark as reality can be, though, that analysis shows that their support was so fervent and things so insane because their system of militant masculinity, rigid gender roles, and hatred of anyone different is on the way out. It will fight as hard as it can to stay relevant, but eventually it will be in the way out. I just hope we can minimise the amount of people hurt when it lashes out.

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meganpbell's review

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dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

This 75-year-spanning study by a Christian historian traces American evangelicals’ takeover of the Republican Party and shows how their highest values—militarism and masculinity, patriarchy and patriotism—turned a modest Jesus Christ into a macho John Wayne, and made voting for Donald Trump not a necessary evil, but a natural conclusion. As disturbing as it is revelatory, this book is a must read for anyone seeking to make sense of this political era.

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