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A review by meredith_williams_
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, and War