GAITHER VOCAL BAND JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE FULL

Du Mez reminds us along the way that right-wing Christian bathroom politics are nothing new, as opponents of the Equal Rights Amendment once argued that its adoption would lead to the adoption of unisex bathrooms.Дu MezвЂ™s subtitle, вЂњhow white evangelicals corrupted a faith and fractured a nation,вЂќ hinges in part on a theological, rather than historical, argument. in bringing evangelicals around to opposing abortion and profoundly shaping the Christian Right.

But Du Mez also takes white Christian womenвЂ™s investment in the enforcement of patriarchal norms seriously, giving the Catholic anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly due credit along with men like Jerry Falwell Sr. The book affords a great deal of attention to the influence of conservative men in evangelicalism, from John Wayne and Mel Gibson to Oliver North, James Dobson, Ted Haggard, John Piper, and Mark Driscoll. Uniquely with respect to a recent spate of popular histories of evangelicalism, Du Mez brings a gender studies lens to the subject. While I occasionally found myself wanting more primary source illustrations of a particular point, for the most part, Du Mez holds her abstract narrative and concrete examples in expert balance, keeping the reader engaged through her lively, colorful prose.

GAITHER VOCAL BAND JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE FULL

In between, Du Mez more than adequately substantiates her thesis that evangelical Trump support represents вЂњthe culmination of evangelicalsвЂ™ embrace of militant masculinity, an ideology that enshrines patriarchal authority and condones the callous display of power, at home and abroad.вЂќ The author of a book on Christian feminism and a full professor of history and gender studies at the Christian Reformed Calvin University, Du Mez leads us with apparent ease, as only a seasoned historian can, from the days of Teddy Roosevelt and Billy Sunday, through the early Cold War mainstreaming of Christian nationalism and the subsequent white evangelical backlash against the civil rights movement and anti-Vietnam protesters, into the rise of the Christian Right as a powerful voting bloc that crystallized in the 1980 election, and finally on to the present. I donвЂ™t remember if the band performed вЂњJesus and John Wayne,вЂќ the 2008 song that Kristin Kobes Du Mez chose as the title for her вЂњ Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation.вЂќ But GaitherвЂ™s exhortation to focus on the gospel rather than politics is in keeping with the more вЂњtenderвЂќ version of white Christian masculinity that Du Mez identifies as prominent in the 1990s and that she associates with the song, which locates ideal Christian manhood вЂњsomewhere between Jesus and John Wayne.вЂќ Most of Du MezвЂ™s impressive book, however, is about the historical origins and present ascendance of a more militant Christian masculinity - less Jesus and more John Wayne, in her framing - that has culminated in white evangelicalsвЂ™ steady and unflinching support for the swaggering, immoral Trump. Attending despite already being non-religious and uncomfortable in a crowd like the one drawn in by Bill Gaither in his home state, I was somewhat heartened when he declared at the outset that we should set political differences aside for the afternoon as we worshiped God and enjoyed gospel music.

Trump had been confirmed as the presumptive GOP nominee in the upcoming presidential election. About a month earlier, on May 3, Donald J. On June 12, 2016, I joined my mother and some relatives for a concert by the Christian group Gaither Vocal Band in Carmel, Ind.

Gaither vocal band jesus and john wayne