Of course this isn’t an exclusively Evangelical phenomenon-culture is at least as powerful as theology in shaping a number of groups of Americans. It’s a genius title, and it makes a compelling and challenging argument, especially after we watched a gang of mainly Christian insurrectionists storm the Capitol to save the presidency of Donald Trump.Īt the risk of oversimplifying her book, I’d summarize her argument as follows:įirst, culture (including political culture) is at least as important in defining Evangelicals as theology. It’s called Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, by Calvin University history professor Kristin Kobes Du Mez.
But one thing became clear to me that day-and it was clear to me year after year in the decades that followed-that lots and lots of folks were very intent on tying Jesus to the vision of manhood they loved the most.Įarlier this year, I read a book that’s ignited an enormous amount of argument and debate across the length and breadth of the Christian intelligentsia. I really wasn’t all that curious about how Jesus would play sports.
“If Jesus played baseball,” he shouted, “he’d slide home hard, with his cleats up!” I was a teenager, and a Christian coach was talking to a group of young Christian athletes. I remember the first time I was exposed to Christian insecurity about masculinity. By the time we can resume our normal lives, I’m going to be ready to put out fires, fight in combat, and save damsels in distress.(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images.) I couldn’t talk my church into hosting a Smoking Barrel event until COVID-19 subsides, but I’m eating all the smoked meat I can find at the grocery. Why can’t Mel Gibson star in and make movies nowadays? I spent five hundred bucks buying all the episodes of Duke Dynasty on Amazon. I’m watching The Green Berets and Braveheart and The Passion. But I’ve got time for spiritual reeducation during this pandemic. For instance, if dirty dishes lingered in the sink, he must immediately sit her down and remind her of her duty if she rebelled, he was to call the elders of the church to intervene.” I had never thought of the threat to call the elders! That’ll do the trick.Īfter many years in the ivory tower surrounded by leftist radicals, my transformation into a Christian warrior-scholar probably will take some time. But then I found this nugget in Jesus and John Wayne: “If a wife was not properly submissive, it was a husband’s duty to correct her.
Until now, I worried that if I didn’t do the dishes they might not get done. I’ve done a lot of dishes over the last two decades and now I’m done with doing the dishes. With all due respect to Brad Wilcox, real Christian men need to do more than simply spend more time with their wives and children than average American husbands. It’s the age of crass, badass, militant Christianity. I need to pepper my lectures and tweets with expletives. Otherwise, I’ve sounded like Mitt Romney instead of Mark Driscoll. I had a phase back in middle school when I used bad language to try to sound cooler in front of other boys, but in recent years, I’ve only used naughty words when quoting Brigham Young sermons. I’ve never been a gun guy anyway.Īfter reading about the evangelical heroes of the last fifty years, I also need to loosen up a bit. For that, I will need a gun, or at least a crossbow, which might actually be cooler. Birding is fine, as long as it’s shooting birds. Baking is out, MMA is in, though I don’t know what the acronym stands for. Things I currently like include tennis, watching The Great British Baking Show (gulp), and birding (double gulp).
My out-of-the-classroom hobbies need retooling. See Eric Metaxas, who also has way better hair than I do. It’s not impossible to be a manly evangelical scholar. Go into the classroom with a camo tie or jacket? Maybe a camo tie and jacket? At least a camo mask for this fall? There is hope. Maybe I could rebrand myself as a scholarly warrior.
Being a professional historian and a Professor of Religious Studies is not exactly airborne ranger, wild at heart, spiritual badass stuff.