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Kristin Du Mez Profile picture
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6 Feb, 10 tweets, 4 min read
So this caught my attn even before I realized Jesus and John Wayne was part of this discussion. Here's Newsmax talking about @DavidAFrench 's interview with Vox's @seanilling on how Trump was a catastrophe for Am Christians. I'll get to Rachel Hamm in a minute, but first...
I'm a big fan of French & his resistance, but I want to push his analysis further. Why Trump? It's not just that white evs are Repubs, but white evs helped shape the Repub party into what it is. This isn't about being coopted. It's affinities & alliances. vox.com/22188646/trump…
Alternative information is a huge thing. But here too it's not just that evs watch Fox and listen to talk radio. Conservative evs contribute to Fox and talk radio & conservative media cater to evs. Meanwhile Chr media generate & amplify the very same perspectives. It's symbiotic.
And then we get to J&JW. French agrees that there is "a perverted version of masculinity" in "Southern ev circles." But of course this Southern masculinity isn't just Southern. Historians have long discussed "the Southernization of Am religion." vox.com/policy-and-pol…
Darren Dochuk's From Bible Belt to Sunbelt makes this case beautifully. (And if you've read J&JW you know I draw on Dochuk extensively. It's an incredible book.) So we have white ev infused with this militant mascuinity. (Cf. Mark Driscoll.) bookshop.org/books/from-bib…
French observes that ev Chrs struggle to live out "a biblical masculinity that is not too influenced by a secular culture that either wrongly denigrates toughness or wrongly elevates toughness." But..."wrongly denigrates toughness"=the precise rhetoric of those he critiques.
What strikes French as "bizarre" is the equation of Trump with "virtuous masculinity." Indeed. But what if the primary masculine virtue for evs is toughness, using violence for the cause of "righteousness," however defined? What if true Chr virtues have become "effeminate"?
That's the "corrupted a faith" that I trace in J&JW. So this isn't just a story of good Chrs being duped or tempted by political power. The problem runs much deeper, which is why it is so difficult to extricate. bookshop.org/books/jesus-an…
As far as Rachel Hamm goes? To understand why Newsmax turned to a woman who writes on "emotional prosperity, authentic spirituality, and a life that is thoroughly fulfilled" for expert political analysis...stay tuned for my next book, LIVE LAUGH LOVE. ❤️
(Note: I intially posted this thread misidentifying Fox News for Newsmax. Don't know how I could confuse the two. But lacking an edit button (curses, Twitter!) I deleted and reposted so as not to contribute in any way to fake news and to give credit where credit is due.)

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Kristin Du Mez Profile picture
31 Jan
A perceptive review that considers J&JW's reception: "Like preachers, doctrines, politicians & positions, books & authors can become identity markers for subcultures, movements, and communities. Battleground books become symbols of community signaling." 1/
faithliterally.com/p/jesus-and-jo…
Napier suggests that J&JW is poised to become a symbol for camp categorization btw progressives and conservatives. I know what he means, and I've watched this begin to play out with fascination. But I'd dispute the categories "progressive" and "conservative." 2/6
What I see are conservatives embracing J&JW, at least if the word still means anything other than "white nationalist Trump-supporter." Conservative white evangelicals who look at J&JW and say "this is not what I believe" are redrawing the boundaries... 3/6
Read 6 tweets
Kristin Du Mez Profile picture
30 Jan
Apologies for the tardiness (my pesky day job interferes with my Twitter habit from time to time), but before the week is out I wanted to return @mereorthodoxy's absolutely fascinating (to me!) J&JW symposium. And so, a Friday night thread:
First, this nuanced review by @klh_sanders, which is familiar to me because, of all of the reviews I've seen of J&JW, this one most resembles the critics' voices that I conversed w/ in my head as I wrote J&JW. I considered these objections as I wrote, I weighed the evidence...
...and I crafted my narrative. So...I don't think my treatment of "outliers as evidence" is quite as reckless as Sanders suggests. I tried to take pains to differentiate even as I identified affinities. And many evs are variously shaped by mainstream and "extreme" influences.
Read 12 tweets
Kristin Du Mez Profile picture
27 Dec 20
A poignant reflection written by my friend, Barbara Carvill, professor emerita at Calvin University. She was baptized into the Germain Christian church under the Third Reich, by a pastor who preached antisemitism, and... 1/4
...making “Jesus into a Germanic heroic warrior.” The pastor congratulated her parents for producing another child for the Lebenskampf, for the German warrior nation. Her father was commended for his loyalty and obedience.... 2/4
Her mother was reminded of her duty to sacrifice herself for her children. They were to cultivate loyalty & obedience in Barbara, too, who was “consecrated to live and serve the German Volk,” filled with Christ’s power. 3/4
Read 4 tweets
Kristin Du Mez Profile picture
26 Dec 20
I've been following the horrifying story of the killing of Casey Goodson Jr by Baptist pastor/sheriff's deputy Jason Meade, a proponent of preemptive violence as "righteous release." Meade's actions & views seem extreme, but mainstream white evangelicalism isn't that far away. 1/
The idea that God gives righteous (masculine) protectors the authority to use violence to bring order is pervasive within conservative white evangelicalism, going back to the (highly racialized) law & order politics of the sixties. (This is the John Wayne part of Jesus & JW.) 2/
And the idea that "superior violence" is necessary is common w/in post-9/11 evangelicalism. My ch. on anti-Islamic rhetoric ("Why We Want to Kill You") shows how this works even (esp.) when based on fabricated threats. Also see white ev support for preemptive war & torture. 3/
Read 8 tweets
Kristin Du Mez Profile picture
2 Nov 20
I'm a Calvinist, & I've always been puzzled that so many Calvinists have so much trouble acknowleding systemic racism and sexism. If you believe in this bizarre-not-bizarre doctrine of original sin, "Sin is not merely a matter of imitating bad behavior. It’s an inheritance." 1/4
When I was up for my first reappointment at Calvin University (see, I told you I was a Calvinist), I was quizzed by a board member on my engagement with ideas of gender, race, and power. I explained that as someone who was taught to interrogate faithfulness in all aspects... 2/4
of life, these were incredibly helpful tools to understand how sin (/abuse of power) was not just individual, but woven into the patterns of this world. "Neither bootstrappism nor rehabilitation efforts will suffice," writes Chad Ashby. Amen to this. 3/4
Read 4 tweets
Kristin Du Mez Profile picture
26 Oct 20
I've been waiting a long time for this @CTmagazine review of JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE, and, well, it looks like I won't be winning any CT book awards this year. As you might imagine, I have some thoughts. And so, a thread: 1/15
christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/octobe…
I'm gratified that new editor in chief @DanlHarrell shared his thoughts. The book is personal for many white evangelical readers and I love the deeply personal engagement it elicits. That said, I'm not quite sure what to make of Harrell's framing the review... 2/15
...in terms of a bad relationship with his girlfriend and Bill Gothard's guidance in seeking/demanding forgiveness. Is he troubled by his insistance that his girlfriend must obey and forgive him? Because...I am. I'm at a loss here. 3/15
Read 16 tweets

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