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Fritz Agency
Christian Dittus
Original language
English

JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE

Kristin Kobes Du Mez

How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

A scholar of American Christianity presents a seventy-five-year history of evangelicalism that identifies the forces that have turned Donald Trump into a hero of the Religious Right.

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 delves beyond facile headlines to explain how white evangelicals have brought us to our fractured political moment. Challenging the commonly held assumption that the "moral majority" backed Donald Trump for purely pragmatic reasons, Du Mez reveals that Donald Trump in fact represents the fulfillment, rather than the betrayal, of white evangelicals' most deeply held values.

With 15 b/w illustrations
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Published 2020-06-01 by Liveright (W.W. Norton)

Comments

[...] This lucid, potent history adds a much needed religious dimension to understanding the current American right and the rise of Trump. -- Publisher's Weekly Read more...

[...]the well-researched narrative is reasoned and dispassionate. While the author often paints with a broad brush, characterizing white evangelicals throughout as racist, hypernationalistic, and utterly patriarchal, readers not on the fringe right will find it difficult to take issue with her arguments. An evangelical-focused anti-Trump book that carries academic weight. -- Kirkus Reviews Read more...

[...] In her smart, deftly argued book, historian Du Mez delves into white evangelicals' militantly patriarchal expressions of faith and their unwavering support for libertine President Donald Trump. Du Mez, a professor at Calvin University, clearly explicates the way the "evangelical cult of masculinity" has played out over decades. She maintains that ‘understanding the catalyzing role militant Christian masculinity has played over the past half century is critical to understanding American evangelism today, and the nation's fractured political landscape. -- The National Book Review