1).īut alongside these expanding horizons came the inevitable need to “tone down theological distinctives and instead offer books pitched to a broadly evangelical readership”(ch. Traditionally, the distribution of Christian books remained largely within denominational boundaries, but with the establishment of the Christian Booksellers Association, authors and publishers were able to form a “vibrant media empire, along with a national network of institutions and para-church organizations that flourished outside of denominational structures”(ch. One factor that helped produce this phenomenon was the rise of celebrity pastors, authors, and evangelical leaders, which I thoroughly enjoyed learning about. In short, a decades-long abuse of the Christian faith has led evangelicals to define themselves more by cultural and political movements than by a commitment to the person of Jesus Christ, a reality that, to du Mez, was laid bare on the national stage in 2016. Though it be an anomaly to some, for du Mez the explanation is clear: evangelical support for Trump didn’t actually start with Trump, but was rather the “ culmination of embrace of militant masculinity, an ideology that enshrines patriarchal authority and condones the callous display of power, at home and abroad”(intro).
It is not hard to understand its mass appeal: it places a finger on the pulse of a deep and unsettling trend, namely, the abuses of leadership, power, and theology that have taken place in the American evangelical church over the past century, and which continue to this day.ĭu Mez begins by asking the following questions: How could “81% of white evangelical voters Trump” in the 2016 presidential election?…How could ‘family values’ conservatives support a man who flouted every value they insisted they held dear? How could the self-professed ‘Moral Majority’ embrace a candidate who reveled in vulgarity? How could evangelicals who’d turned ‘WWJD’ (‘What Would Jesus Do?’) into a national phenomenon justify their support for a man who seemed the very antithesis of the savior they claimed to emulate?”(intro) The book has been featured on popular news and media outlets, and praised by a number of eminent evangelicals. I continue to see friends of all ages quoting and recommending it as a vital resource. From the second it came off the press, Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s Jesus and John Wayne has exploded in popularity.
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