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

Kristin Kobes Du Mez traces the seventy-year evolution of American evangelicalism from a religious movement focused on internal piety into a political force defined by militant patriarchy. She argues that white evangelicals replaced the biblical figure of a sacrificial Jesus with a secularized ideal of rugged, aggressive masculinity modeled after pop-culture icons like John Wayne. This shift institutionalized a specific brand of Christian nationalism that prioritizes strength, protective violence, and traditional gender hierarchies while shaping the movement’s stance on military intervention, domestic policy, and partisan loyalty.

Readers interested in the intersection of cultural history and modern sociology read this to understand the grassroots origins of contemporary political alignment. The text provides a historical framework for how media consumption—from Western films to Christian self-help books—reshaped religious identity more effectively than theological doctrine. Readers walk away with a roadmap of the specific organizations, leaders, and cultural events that facilitated the transition from evangelical faith to a populist political identity centered on authoritarian leadership and national toughness.

Outward-looking; a moderate read.

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