Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

Gender as a category of identity and analysis is core to Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s thesis in Jesus and John Wayne. In particular, conceptions of masculinity and manhood being under threat is how Du Mez believes one can understand conservative white evangelicalism and its culture and politics. This militancy came from both a fear that feminists and the dominant culture “had denigrated masculine leadership” (83). In the minds of evangelical leaders like James Dobson and Jerry Falwell, this decline in masculinity made the US vulnerable to threats from both outside and within. Such attitudes stoked evangelical feelings of “a bunker mentality” that “strengthens identity and loyalty, and fuels militancy” (296). This is especially apparent in Du Mez’s historical analysis, as evangelicals responded to the threats of communists during the Cold War and Muslims during the War on Terror. At the same time, evangelicals have identified a number of culture war issues like feminism or gay and trans rights that are “demanding a similar militancy.” Du Mez argues that this is why “[e]vangelical militancy cannot be seen simply as a response to fearful times; for conservative white evangelicals, a militant faith required an ever-present sense of threat” (13).