Let’s be honest here: every single author of any history has bias. I find it amusing to read criticisms of J&JW, particularly charges of the author of confirmation bias or having an axe to grind with conservative evangelicalism (I am especially thinking of a review on Stream).
Jesus and john wayne quotes series#
Finally it all made sense: a lot of people want Jesus to save your soul and (as the title of chapter 2 asserts) John Wayne to save your a_.Īfter a series of John Wayne types throughout the generations, the John Wayne-est of John Waynes arrive on the scene and captivated an entire political party, and entire denominations of Christians. Author Kristin Du Mez traced white masculine evangelical history, back to the early years of the likes of John Wayne and Billy Graham, and the ways in which evangelicalism, politics, and (toxic) masculinity have developed and intersected.
I thought to myself, How is that logically possible? More importantly, how did so many people of faith so idolize a man who has utterly and repeatedly failed to live up to their supposed standards of morality? Prior to Trump’s appearance, congressman Mitch McConnell, who insisted that Trump’s words incited the riots at the Capitol, admitted that he would support Trump if Trump were the 2024 Republican nominee. Mere weeks after his speech kicked off a march upon the Capitol that resulted in violence, he was welcomed with adulation, hinting at a 2024 presidential run, to loud cheers. On the same day that I read the final chapter of J&JW (Sunday, February 28th), former President Donald Trump took center stage at the CPAC, the conservative convention in Orlando that included a golden Trump statue. It is not needed just to tell the next sequence of events (the election results, conspiracy theories, Capitol storming, etc.) it is needed because it truly completes the story arc.
By the end of it, I was convinced that Jesus and John Wayne ( J&JW) came out one year too early, because after being released in the summer of 2020, so much has transpired that an additional chapter was needed.
It has been quite a while since I read 300+ densely-packed pages of history so eagerly and attentively.