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    Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
    Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
    Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
    Audiobook12 hours

    Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

    Written by Kristin Kobes du Mez

    Narrated by Suzie Althens

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    How did a libertine who lacks even the most basic knowledge of the Christian faith win 81 percent of the white evangelical vote in 2016? And why have white evangelicals become a presidential reprobate's staunchest supporters? These are among the questions acclaimed historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez asks in Jesus and John Wayne, which explains how white evangelicals have brought us to our fractured political moment.

    Jesus and John Wayne is a sweeping account of the last seventy-five years of white evangelicalism, showing how American evangelicals have worked for decades to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism. Evangelical popular 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.

    A much-needed reexamination, Jesus and John Wayne explains why evangelicals have rallied behind the least-Christian president in American history and how they have transformed their faith in the process, with enduring consequences for all of us.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateJul 14, 2020
    ISBN9781684579297
    Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

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    Reviews for Jesus and John Wayne

    4.5/5

    374 ratings39 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This book hits all the areas. It is not similar to how I grew up, it is EXACTLY how I grew up. The idea that women are inferior, must be subservient, and quiet is all too real. The guys in our church were praised for attending Hyles Anderson College and it explains a lot. The hypocrisy of the church leaders preaching morality yet not living it is vast in the evangelical world. This book is excellent at pointing out how we have too long looked to the evangelical leaders, not God, for our life lessons and sadly how detrimental that has been and continues to be.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Great historical account of the influence of Christian churches in politics and in American culture. Well written.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Essential reading/listening for those who want to see how modern American evangelicalism is where it is today.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Though I may have small as quibbles with some of the takes on the more recent Evangelical movements I'm old enough to have lived through (which may disappear after some honest self reflection), the author builds a case that more than supports the conclusions and observations in the final chapter.
      In fact, the final chapter is so well done, the points spot on and supported that I would recommend the title based on it alone.

      Would make a great companion book to David Fitch's "The Church of Us Vs Them".

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I do not have any real connection to white evangelicalism, which is probably why I have been completely baffled for a good 15+ years about their behavior and how they can claim to be Christian but support people who seem so full of hate and who seem to be the opposite of what I think of when I think of the ideal of Christianity (compassionate, charitable, modest, etc.). Connections to White nationalism and rugged masculinity and militarization, and how they got there is very fascinating.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      It revealed much about Evangelical culture that churches do not talk about.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A Twitter recommendation by Beth Moore brought this book to my attention and it did not disappoint. It was both enlightening and unnerving to read about the evolution of the White Evangelical community during the last 75 years. I was entrenched in this community through most of my life and recognized most of the leaders, organizations, and books referenced in the book. While I have been wrestling with my beliefs for a few years, this book helped open my eyes to how contradictory White American Evangelical Nationalism is to what the Bible actually teaches. Unfortunately, the very people that should read this have been indoctrinated so deeply, they will reject anything that questions what they’ve been taught.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Interesting and compelling thesis, yet lacking the citations I was expecting from a theology school professor in some areas. I was under the assumption this book categorically, without a doubt proved a point. But, while damaging the defendant greatly, I find myself unable to convict. Not the individuals involved, I was already deeply disturbed by much of their hypocrisy, but by the exact diagnosis of the named condition. But think long and hard on this I will.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This was a perfect explanation of the Christian culture I was raised in.
      Kristin Kobes Du Mez does a beautiful job of explaining every facet of American Christian nationalism. I already understood a large portion of of this structure but what I didn’t expect was for the author to tie up connections that I had wrestled with and had never been able to figure out obvious discrepancies. and fluid method of believers to grab ahold of one truth but fail to even understand another basic biblical truth when it worked against a warrior Jesus or prosperous America.

      The first basic tenet of the deconstruction and reconstruction of my faith, required for something to be true it also needs to be true beyond the borders of the US, and not used as justifications of colonialism or imperialism.


      I can’t recommend this book enough and plan to buy a physical copy for myself as a gift.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 2/5
      If you want to know why evangelicals voted for Trump, this book will not help you do so. Missed the mark completely. Most Christians saw Trump as the lesser of two evils, but still an evil.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Wow. Just wow. This book helped show a lot of white evangelical (or just evangelical period) inconsistencies and hypocrisies. Left me in pieces and I’m still picking them up.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I have been challenged to the max and deeply undone!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      It goes without saying that if you thinking patriarchy is inherently biblical then skip this one it will bug you and be a waste of time.

      But for every other evangelical this book is important! It paints a rich and often ugly picture of current evangelical history that explains their current politics and scandal stories in a way that is both convincing and convicting.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I liked the book very much - very insightful. I was interested in the book because I was raised in the fundamentalist evangelical church, and abandoned it at age 17, but still at age 69, I’m occasionally wrestling with topics such as, how could supposedly good Christian people conceivably support Donald Trump for president? The book answers that question very completely. However I did not care for the narrator’s incessant use of a little… “pause” to… “demark or otherwise emphasize”… certain … “phrases.” That little pause started to drive me crazy. It helped to play back at 1.2x speed.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A really eye opener. Perfect book for deconstructing if you come from an evangelical background.
    • 5/5
      Well researched and comprehensive historical analysis that is not so much eye-opening as clarifying.
    • 5/5
      Excellent work. A must read especially for those raised in the Christian faith in the 70/80/90’s in America or anyone who wants to understand how evangelicals supported Trump.
    • 5/5
      A very timely read to better understand evangelical culture and power. It is understandably dry at times, but well researched and enlightening. Cheers to the author and any research assistants for combing through volumes of insanity to provide use with this resource.
    • 3/5
      Well researched and argued but also a very dry recitation even for a history book.
    • 2/5
      Well-written. Leftist framing mars the arguments. I wish she had avoided gratuitous assertions, but they play a major role in the presentation of her case. What she has written is filled with facts and unconvincing arguments.
    • 4/5
      So many things make sense now. I'm ashamed to have embraced this culture growing up and am glad I know better now.
    • 5/5
      Made me think and evaluate my journey with evangelical faith and politics.
    • 1/5
      This book did not include important context of the emancipation movement begun through the church of Jesus throughout the world and did not contextualize slavery and racism in the United States within the greater context of slavery in North and South America as well as the Caribbean.

      Shocked that she failed to use citation from primary sources in any really meaningful way. Basically her personally theory and opinions spouted about in a way that earns money and notoriety while biting the very hand that feeds her.

      The author also fails to note the fact that the only reason she is able to write the book as a women or be educated and has the ability to read is because of the church of Jesus.

      As a minority and immigrant who loves the church in America I find it interesting that an educated white women from a relatively great family who believes in a victim hierarchy writes with such confidence coming from a place of such privilege.

      Anything from Rodney Stark is much better for a contextualized history of slavery, racism and the church in the west. This book was really discouraging because it is fundamentally inaccurate and out of context. Yellow journalism at its finest.
    • 5/5
      A great examination of the political allegiances that have precipitated the rise of Uber right nationalism among conservative evangelicalism.
    • 5/5
      Most of the ideas in this book are not new to me. I grew up immersed in the Evangelical culture the author describes and have been gradually realizing its personal and social effects throughout my adulthood and ministry career. However, this book does something I've yet to encounter, providing a detailed overview of how social forces have contributed to the theology and practices of Evangelicals, especially surrounding gender, sexuality, and American nationalism. While I at times felt myself wanting to defend certain authors or ideas, I could not deny that even those I had benefited from were part of a problematic subculture that is too often blind to its own existence because it uses biblical "literalism" as a means of denying the influence of social forces. I am very appreciative of this work and suspect I will be recommending it regularly, especially to the university students involved in my ministry.
    • 5/5
      Kobes Du Mez does a wonderful job of weaving historical events together to tell the story of modern evangelicalism. As a woman growing up in “softer” circles of these teachings I was shocked to have so many of my questions about my heritage answered and childhood view of the Bible and God explained. I absorbed so many attitudes and understandings that have taken me years to untangle and hold up to the light and this book has helped me immensely. I feel so much stronger in my convictions and faith having read this.
    • 5/5
      A real gift to those in the church struggling to understand election of Donald Trump and the partisan divide and politicization of basic Biblical values.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Fascinating. As a white, previously evangelical man in the Deep South, it was like explaining water to a fish.

      5 people found this helpful

    • 3/5
      A feministic interpretation of evangelical Christianity's culpability in the problems of America. The author starts with her premise that white evangelicals have fractured the United States of America and meticulously goes back in history to "prove" her premise. Some of her "proofs" are quite a stretch, and to read this book you would think that nothing positive comes from Christian faith. I find her premise to be false on the face of it, so the reinterpretation of history was labored in my opinion.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I really appreciated the thorough historical work. I was challenged and convicted and frequently dismayed by what I learned. I had prior knowledge of 10-20% of the facts presented and look forward to seeing a non-audio copy so I can spot-check some of the footnotes to confirm the accuracy of the rest matches, too.

      My only knock is that couching it with a provocative sub-title and very editorializing forward diminishes the value of the objective history the book itself contains. I heard an interview with the author where she stated her original intent for the text in the forward was as the conclusion, I wish the editors would have trusted her on that.

      3 people found this helpful