Book Review: Jesus and John Wayne

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation (2021) by Kristen Kobes du Mez.

I borrowed the audiobook version of this book from my local public library, not knowing anything about it.  I expected a screed but it was remarkably neutral (-ish) and straightforward history of the authors, organizers, and celebrities of the religious right from the 1950s to the election of Donald Trump.

Her previous book, A New Gospel for Women: Katharine Bushnell and the Challenge of Christian Feminism (2015) was about gender bias in Christianity from a feminist perspective, so this second book's focus on Christian views about masculinity is a book-end for that work.  

From the cowboy masculinity of John Wayne (literally), admired by McCarthy-era conservatives, du Mez weaves a story that results in a new kind of masculinity, infused with a belief in Jesus the sword-bearing warrior and a Christianity that embraces "strength" and forgives sexual misbehavior in its leaders.  She relies on books, video, and other written records rather than interviews, so it is a bit distant though not as chilly as a scholarly text.

If you want to learn the who's who of the religious right this is a must-read.  She discusses internecine disputes, TV hosts and the cult of Bill Gothard -- a single man who never had children yet became the pope of family and childhood patriarchy for many.