This concern for loss of power betrays a diverse set of inconvenient truths for white evangelicals. The terrors of “communism” (now “socialism”), “feminism,” and various versions of “apocalypticism” are best to be understood as scapegoats, because what is ultimately being lost is evangelical “power.”ģ. Masculine strength is in many ways rooted in the concern of loss, and evangelicals feel as if there is a lot to lose. Once again, fear is at the base of it all. T hat our national conscience has been and will continue to be intricately tied to evangelicalism’s spiritual conscience is both insightful and an indictment on this religion’s cultural compromise.Ģ. World War II, Vietnam, and 9/11 struck at the heart of our security, which demanded–emotionally and physically–a response of “strength.” Evangelicals were deeply influenced by these moments and saw themselves within the same struggle. I was struck by how influential the wars in our nation’s history were in influencing evangelical culture. The following are my main observations:ġ. Du Mez has provided a journalistically insightful history of evangelicalism’s masculine expression, highlighting key figures and events that together illuminate the why’s and how’s of its development through the decades. Still, after finishing the conclusion, I could not help but feel a sense of discomposure, that had I not had that conversation so many years ago, and considered carefully my biases, presuppositions, and prejudices regarding my “gendered theology,” would I have been a subject of this book, not just a reader?ĭr. and Franklin Graham have fortunately been peripheral to my later stages of Christian development. And so the later elements in this book having to do with politics, Duck Dynasty, and people like Jerry Falwell Jr. Over the last two decades, my views have radically shifted, mostly through studying Jesus, actually reading the Bible in its original languages and through its cultural and historical context, and learning from a diverse set of voices that I was never exposed to, even through Bible college and seminary. Smith, the beloved Veggie Tales (which I still actually love to this day–thank you Phil Vischer), and of course Petra! I of course consumed the more innocuous mentions of DC Talk, Amy Grant and Michael W. Institutes in Basic Youth Conflicts? Yup. I remember my youth group kids smashing their secular CDs at one of the conferences I took them to. Promise Keepers? Yup! I not only went with the men in my church, my dad sought to make it a yearly ritual. (When I handed out “purity keys,” as part of the ceremony, one of my kids gleefully told me that he was calling this gift that I gave him “the key to my crotch.” #YouthPastorWin!) Focus on the Family? Yup! James Dobson was a standard voice in my home. I signed the card, held the promise, and taught it to my youth group when I became a youth pastor. Each page I turned I saw my spiritual history. In all honesty, it was terrifyingly disconcerting. I wish I could tell you that reading this book was a wonderful experience. After I professed an evangelical faith in the “spiritual leadership” of the man of the home, as well as the “place of women” in the church, a perspective which was “clearly biblical,” she looked at me and simply said, “Oh, I can’t marry someone who believes that.” We were both pursuing vocational ministry at the time, and as you do, we discussed various beliefs, perspectives, and dreams. In 1997 I began dating a woman which quickly led to the discussion of marriage. WWNorton’s book page book page NPR Author interview Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation.
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