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Du Mez’s book is chronological, but each group of chapters are dedicated to a certain subtheme. This formation of an evangelical identity was the reason why this demographic was able to have such a strong hold on traditional social conservatism.
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She explains that since the 1940s and 1950s, white evangelicals synthesized an identity composed of traditional gender roles, militarism, and Christian nationalism this was first challenged during the social movements of the 1960s and a response to these changes was mobilized during the 1970s onward through evangelical influence on the marketplace and mainstream politics (11-12). Bush, and Donald Trump.ĭu Mez’s central argument with this book is that the Evangelical Christian movement influenced right-wing politics with their ideas of family, nationalism, and masculinity shaping their own subculture, which in turn, linked with the ideology of social conservatism. This topic she explores is centered in the continental United States ranging in the decades from the mid-1940s through 2020, assessing the importance of prominent figures and archetypes such as John Wayne, evangelical leaders like James Dobson and Billy Graham, and Republican presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. The book assesses how white evangelical Protestants forged their own political alchemy of Christian nationalism in the United States based on chauvinism, masculinity, and religious fundamentalism.
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Her new book under review, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation (Liveright, 2020), likewise combines the frameworks of religious, political, cultural, and gender history. These topics inform her writing, including her first book The New Gospel for Women: Katherine Bushnell and the Challenge of Christian Feminism (Oxford, 2015). Kristin Kobes Du Mez is a professor of History at Calvin University, specializing in gender, religious, and political history while also teaching social and cultural history.