How did a movement that, in the 19th century, was synonymous with Methodist feminists and circuit-riding antislavery activists come to be identified with a view of men, America, and history best described as Confederate? How did so many evangelical Christians come not only to tolerate but to like the kind of masculinity that Trump performs? No single book can answer these questions, but Du Mez fills a lot of gaps in the story. Du Mez is facing a problem that besets many ex-evangelicals and former fundamentalists these days: How did the people who taught us to love Jesus end up braying and hooting for this reality television star? Trump hates losers Jesus broke metaphysics in order to become one. This personal aside sets up Jesus and John Wayne as something more than a book of cultural history. But as I watched those in the overflow crowd waving signs, laughing at insults, and shouting back in affirmation, I wondered who these people were. We married in a church just down the road. Standing on the stage where Trump now stood, I had led prayers, performed in Christian “praise teams,” and, during choir rehearsal, flirted with the man who would become my husband. But maybe it isn’t.Every year as a child I’d attended Easter sunrise services in that auditorium, and as a college student I faithfully attended chapel services in that same space. A few days later the request came again: “Can you give us something?” It was then that I came up with the last sentence of the book. The corruption of the faith seemed so entrenched, so endemic to American evangelicalism, that I was left with little hope for change. After finishing the manuscript, my editor asked if I could leave readers with just a bit of hope. I thought about it for a bit, but concluded that no, I didn’t think that I could. Researching and writing this book was in many ways a profoundly discouraging project. This was the hardest chapter at every stage of the writing process: researching, drafting, editing, proofing. More than once I questioned whether the chapter needed to be part of this book. What are your thoughts on this chapter, and how do you see it connecting to the rest of the book? Question 14: Conclusion How do the previous chapters help make sense of white evangelicals’ embrace of Donald Trump? Question 13: Chapter 16 Have you observed this embrace of militarism and the US military within American evangelicalism? What are some of the implications of this alliance? Question 12: Chapters 14-15Īpart from a brief mention in the introduction, Donald Trump doesn’t make an appearance in this book until Ch.
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Were you aware of the increasingly militant masculinity that came to characterize post-9/11 American evangelicalism? What connections between gender and foreign policy are apparent in this era? Question 11: Chapters 12-13
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Over time, my understanding of the relationship between the two shifted rather than distinguishing the margins from the mainstream, I began to identify affinities. What connections do you see between Gothard and Dobson? Have their teachings shaped your own life? How does their conception of authority shape evangelicalism more broadly? If you’re old enough to remember the 1960s, what memories did this chapter stir? How were the 1960s such a pivotal decade in the formation of white evangelical identity? Question 5: Chapter 3Įvangelical masculinity isn’t just a story about men. How have women helped prop up patriarchal Christianity and militant ideals of Christian masculinity, both past and present? Question 6: Chapter 4Ī key challenge in researching and writing this book was determining what should count as “mainstream” and what should be relegated to the fringes. Was there anything that you found surprising in the longer history presented in the first chapter of the book? Question 4: Chapter 2
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Historians think a lot about both continuity and change. 7, have you participated in any part of this evangelical consumer culture? What additional examples would you add? Question 3: Chapter 1 Jesus and John Wayne centers the role of consumer culture in creating evangelical identity. Looking at the list of examples on p.