#Jesus and john wayne sparknotes how to#

In 2016, many observers were stunned at evangelicalsвЂ™ apparent betrayal of their own values. Having replaced the Jesus of the Gospels with the vengeful warrior Christ, itвЂ™s no wonder many came to think of Trump in the same way. Rather than turning the other cheek, theyвЂ™d resolved to defend their faith and their nation, secure in the knowledge that the ends justified the means.

By the time Trump arrived proclaiming himself their savior, conservative white evangelicals had already traded a faith that privileges humility and elevates вЂthe least of theseвЂ™ for one that derides gentleness as the province of wusses. It was, rather, the culmination of evangelicalвЂ™s embrace of militant masculinity, an ideology that enshrines patriarchal authority and condones the callous display of power, at home and abroad. Vangelical support for Trump was no aberration, nor was it merely a pragmatic choice. Trump because he represented exactly the sort of hero they have always adored. Clinton - but was central to their cultural DNA. Trump was not an anomaly - a strange occurrence to be contextualized by, say, the other candidate being Mrs. And second, the evangelical embrace of Mr. How was it that Trump could claim вЂњthat Christianity was вЂunder siege,вЂ™вЂќ urging вЂњChristians to band together and assert their powerвЂќ (1)? How could such a wicked man come to be so embraced by professing Christians? As she considered her task, two epiphanies dawned on her.ДЇirst, though we will look at it in a moment, Du Mez discovered that evangelicals are not who they say they are. Like Robert Wuthnow in The Left Behind: Decline and Rage in Rural America, Du Mez knew there was more to the story than met the eye. She is able to see the speck in the eye of the white evangelical Trump supporter, but not the degree to which her provocative and energetic style makes for such a culturally advantageous, if not actually fashionable product.Д¬hief among an a la mode undertaking is trying to understand why so many вЂњconservative evangelicalsвЂќ voted for Mr.

In fact, any reader will observe that Du Mez is not prepared to consistently apply her prescient observation. After naming Jen Hatmaker, she mentions her nevermore. For Du Mez, it is only вЂњconservativesвЂќ who fall prey to marketing and celebrity culture. This is readily apparent in the heroes they celebrateвЂќ (10). Here is her point: вЂњToday, what it means to be a вЂconservative evangelicalвЂ™ is as much about culture as it is about theology. Or course, if you have run across Jesus and John Wayne, you will see that I left off Du MezвЂ™s punchline. If you want to know what to think about the American religious landscape, order in a FabFitFun box, sign up for the online book club, and if you are very lucky, your favorite Christian celebrity might be able to join you on Zoom. And in it, she sets forth the new, progressive theological guardrails of moral and philosophical acceptability. In it she apprehends the contours of American religiosity.

In it Du Mez aggressively articulates the ascendant theological assumptions of the day. It is why, I think, Jesus and John Wayne is so popular at this particular moment. вЂњThe products Christians consume shape the faith they inhabit,вЂќ writes Du Mez.

#Jesus and john wayne sparknotes how to#

After the unboxing video, I scrolled a little further and listened to Hatmaker - tired but cheerful - launch her latest book, Simple and Free, a treatise on how to deal with the material excesses of life. Was Kristin Kobes Du Mez, in her bestselling Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangeclicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, going to make me unhappily relive the controversies of the last fifty years that rent not only my own denomination, but the whole country? Or, would she be able to effectively untangle the theological, political, and cultural mess that has made life in the church so complicated? I had high hopes, especially as I had just wasted fifteen precious minutes of my too busy day watching Jen Hatmaker unbox the Spring FabFitFun Box, that subscription cornucopia of wellness, beauty, and personal pampering products. I stopped and read the line aloud, those two names - Rachel Held Evans and Jen Hatmaker - leaping off the page. вЂњWhen Rachel Held Evans and Jen Hatmaker ran afoul of conservative orthodoxies related to sexuality and gender.вЂќ (9). Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. EditorвЂ™s note: The following review will appear in the Spring 2021 edition of Eikon.