This was right during the Iraq War, when we saw survey data showing that white evangelicals were disproportionately supporting the Iraq War, supporting preemptive war in general, condoning the use of torture.Īs a historian trained in the analysis of gender, I was immediately intrigued. They saw that Eldredge was doing something very similar to what I had been describing in terms of this muscular Christianity in the early 20th century related to militarism and war. After that lecture, a couple of guys from the class came up to me and said, “Professor Du Mez, there’s this book that you have to read.” It was John Eldredge’s “Wild at Heart.”Įldredge opens that book with a quote from Teddy Roosevelt. The ideas of masculinity could be linked not just to religion but to economic development, to war and militarism, to foreign policy. I thought it was a great way to show students how gender worked in American history. history, and I had a unit on Teddy Roosevelt. KKDM: The research for this started more than 15 years ago. Why now? Why in this particular guise? Why is it taken to this extreme? What’s going on here historically and culturally?į&L: Can you talk about your personal journey toward writing this book? Was the 2016 election a kind of spark or impetus for researching and writing it? In fact, many scholars of evangelicalism who happen to be evangelicals themselves have treated patriarchy, have treated gender complementarianism, in that way: that it’s biblical and doesn’t require a historical investigation or critical analysis.Ĭoming at it from a different perspective, understanding that what Christians think is different at various times and places, then it becomes a historical problem.
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If you assume that Christianity is just patriarchal, then patriarchy in white evangelicalism doesn’t become a historical problem and doesn’t require an explanation or an investigation. You can’t simply dismiss the development as biblical or scriptural issues, because then evangelicals would get a pass. It helped me to problematize the extreme patriarchal constructions of Christianity within white evangelicalism in the last half-century or so. I think that was an important backdrop for this research. I know for a fact that throughout American history and throughout Christian history, there have been devout, Bible-believing Christians - including some who have identified as evangelicals and in fact fundamentalists - who take the Scriptures very seriously and read it in a very different way with regard to patriarchy, with regard to gender and power, and with regard to power more generally. My first book is on the history of Christian feminism, and I think that really gave me eyes to see contemporary American Christianity and conservative evangelicalism in a slightly different light. But there are also traditions of Christian feminism - of understandings of the gospel as undermining patriarchy. Kristin Kobes Du Mez: Within Christian tradition generally, there is a long-standing tradition of patriarchy, patriarchal teaching, patriarchal interpretations of the Scriptures. The following is an edited transcript.įaith & Leadership: What are some of the roots of patriarchy in evangelicalism? She spoke with Faith & Leadership’s Chris Karnadi about her new book, the impact of evangelicalism’s masculinity on the 2020 election, and the effect it may have on the future of evangelicalism.
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But the embrace of this warrior Christ has led to problems, evidenced in both church leadership and a willing allegiance to Trump, she writes.ĭu Mez is a professor of history at Calvin University and is also the author of “A New Gospel for Women: Katharine Bushnell and the Challenge of Christian Feminism.” This Christ was a rugged warrior, willing to fight for the faith and the nation. In the book, Du Mez argues that the well-reported, seemingly contradictory evangelical support of Trump throughout his 2016 campaign and then presidency is completely logical, considering the evangelical affinity with militant masculinity.Įvangelicals formed an idea of Christ from figures like John Wayne and Theodore Roosevelt. The type of masculinity Trump showed in this moment and its relationship to Trump’s evangelical support is the topic of Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s recent book, “Jesus and John Wayne.” After a weekend at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment for COVID-19, President Donald Trump returned to the White House.