{"id":1423,"date":"2025-09-26T14:24:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T14:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/?p=1423"},"modified":"2025-10-09T15:02:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T15:02:44","slug":"jesus-and-john-wayne-how-white-evangelicals-corrupted-a-faith-and-fractured-a-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/jesus-and-john-wayne-how-white-evangelicals-corrupted-a-faith-and-fractured-a-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Kristian Kobes Du Mez<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

–<\/p>\n\n\n

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Buy Book<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Too often criticism is treated only as a negative term that raises quick defensives without thoughtful consideration. Critics, however, can be helpful \u2014 when giving insights into which movies to watch and what restaurants to visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christian churches and denominations deeply need critics like Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a history professor at a Christian university, even if what she reveals is hard to hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Du Mez doesn\u2019t simply skim the surface of the decades-long perversion of American evangelicalism\u2019s move to toss aside long-held ethical principles for personal power. She delves deeply into the ways toxic masculinity has been the rot at the center of this shift that damages vulnerable people and the Christian witness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe products Christians consume shape the faith they inhabit,\u201d she notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Du Mez is not talking about soap and cereal but the media absorption that leads many churchgoers to expect the Sunday sermon to align with those often fearful, hate-filled rantings rather than expecting the weekday messages they hear to align with Jesus\u2019 life, teachings and calling to followship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of particular note, and hence the book\u2019s title drawn from a song, Du Mez\u2019 unearths how a \u201cmilitant evangelical masculinity went hand in hand with a culture of fear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knowledge is power and this thorough, well-documented work provides not only a track record of growing, toxic masculinity that infects American evangelicalism but perhaps the awareness needed to counter it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAppreciating how this ideology developed over time is also essential for those who wish to dismantle it,\u201d Du Mez writes in conclusion. \u201cWhat once was done might also be undone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those willing to ride along with Jesus and John Wayne<\/em> will gain important insights into how a faith built on the ways of Jesus can become corrosive. And then, hopefully, find fresh commitments to return to the primary calling of all disciples \u2014 past and present \u2014 to follow him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Review by John D. Pierce, Director of the Jesus Worldview Initiative<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Kristian Kobes Du Mez – Too often criticism is treated only as a negative term that raises quick defensives without thoughtful consideration. Critics, however, can be helpful \u2014 when …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-booksadvanced"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1423"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1575,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1423\/revisions\/1575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}