![jesus and john wayne criticism jesus and john wayne criticism](https://waynenorthey.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ChristianityandPluralism-300x300.jpg)
It just so happened that this era in Christianity coincided with the beginning of John Wayne’s career in Hollywood. The ascendancy of Christianity and Graham meant they needed more examples of strong men that embodied the traits Americans should have. The United States needed strong men, strong Christian men if we were to resist the rising tide of communism. Graham frequently used sports and military metaphors in his sermons, capitalizing on fears of communism and nuclear war with the Soviet Union. After his traveling crusades started gaining momentum, Christianity held a more relevant place in society. The evangelical movement didn’t explode, however, until the rise of Billy Graham. The churches connected under the NAE put together a network of modern advertising and use of media to spread their message of a new, more masculine faith. A collection of Protestant churches organized under the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) to amplify their effect and work together for the common cause of the gospel. As such, the church started to connect the faith to the sense of ‘rugged masculinity’ which pervaded the United States (think Teddy Roosevelt). A synopsis of Jesus and John WayneĪccording to Du Mez, Christians at the end of the 19th century began to see the faith as too feminine to remain relevant in society. Anyone with a background in history will appreciate how Du Mez presents her case, with each chapter as an argument unto itself, pointing back to the overarching theme of a patriarchal and militaristic church culture which damaged a nation. I mention this because there will be individuals who read some of this book and don’t want to believe what they read. The end notes provide a steady diet of primary and secondary sources which she uses to build her case. If critics want to object to her work, it won’t be due to a lack of research. Her work largely does stick to a historical perspective, and the research is well done. Though not a theological text, Du Mez sometimes hints at her own theological beliefs. In turn, that toxic environment led evangelicals down a path of defending non-Biblical people and behaviors which caused significant damage to the lives of congregants.
![jesus and john wayne criticism jesus and john wayne criticism](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e3/99/05/e39905928e2b3302c528e1c06b35ca41.png)
![jesus and john wayne criticism jesus and john wayne criticism](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HmZWLt4rlzg/hqdefault.jpg)
Du Mez’s book is the work of an academic writing history.ĭu Mez presents the argument that evangelical Christian churches adopted a patriarchal attitude which led to a culture of hyper-masculinity. If you’re looking for an exegesis of Biblical Scripture, you have the wrong book. When you start reading Jesus and John Wayne, understand this is not a book on theology. Jesus and John Wayne is her most recent work, and has become a New York Times best seller. Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a professor of history at Calvin University.ĭu Mez is no stranger to the field, writing extensively in the field of religion and engaging in a number of speaking events. This particular text is the product of Dr.
![jesus and john wayne criticism jesus and john wayne criticism](https://wp-media.patheos.com/blogs/sites/1004/2021/07/cowboy-4934679_1280-768x614.jpg)
Summertime provides me with the opportunity to read significantly more than the academic year, and recently, I came across one of the most difficult books I have ever read, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. And the child’s world is never quite whole again. It is a tedious job to build them up again they never quite shine. And there is one sure thing about the fall of gods: they do not fall a little they crash and shatter or sink deeply into green muck. “When a child first catches adults out - when it first walks into his grave little head that adults do not have divine intelligence, that their judgments are not always wise, their thinking true, their sentences just - his world falls into panic desolation.