#REVIEW OF JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE MOVIE#

Donald Trump is the new rugged, raucous hero of the movement. Books, movies, clothing have made millions for their promoters. The author gives comprehensive detail about the marketing aspects of the movement and the wide cultural and financial ramifications. Pat Boone contributed to the appeal of the movement.

#REVIEW OF JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE MOVIE#

Mel Gibson is also idolized for his movie roles as William Wallace and as Christ. His failings as far as sexual purity and religious faith are glossed over. John Wayne has long been touted as the masculine ideal by evangelicals. These have offered convenient enemies and a sense of embattlement that draws people to right wing evangelism. Over time the enemies have been communism, secular humanism, feminism, multi-lateralism, Islamic terrorism, gay rights, civil rights. These emotions lead evangelicals to seek enemies on which to focus. Ultimately the author makes the case that this extremist movement is based on fear of loss of white male power and the resultant anger. The evangelicals became masters at justifying their often contradictory stands on many issues. Biblical passages have been used freely to justify all sorts of otherwise embarrassing facts about the leadership and the movement’s actions. Yet Kobes Du Mez also details the many ways in which evangelicals have compromised their stated ideals. And they glorified Jesus as a Warrior not a gentle pacifist. They supported a Christian national identity. On a wider front they espoused militant nationalism at home and abroad.

Public education was seen as undermining the authority of the patriarch.

The evangelicals embraced “family values” based on authoritarian patriarchy in the home, clearly defined gender roles (the male dominant but protective, and the female submissive), sexual purity (at least for unmarried women) and home schooling or private schooling. The evangelical response was a scramble to protect white male power. She lists historical events that seemed to threaten the evangelical ideal of white masculine power: the end of World War II, the move away from blue collar jobs that relied on physical strength, the move toward urban office jobs with employee status, the end of the Cold War, the scandals of the Viet Nam war that blemished the reputation of the US armed forces, the rise of feminism, the gay and civil rights movements. Rather it is a cultural and political phenomenon that blurs the lines between denominations.

Kobes Du Mez clearly argues that this brand of extreme right wing evangelism is not derived from religious theology. In between, she gives a thorough history and explanation of the white evangelical movement in the United States which contributed greatly to Trump’s successes. The author begins and ends her book with reference to the strange era of Donald Trump. There are four copies of Jesus and John Wayne in the Greater Victoria Public Library system. Her book was published by Liverright in 2021. Kristine Kobes du Mez is a professor of History at Calvin University. Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

Review of jesus and john wayne