I was fascinated by "Jesus and John Wayne". I am a lifelong mainline Christian: Congregational/United Church of Christ, then Methodist and for the last 20 years Presbyterian Church (USA). I was unfamiliar with evangelicalism until my wife and I moved to Southern California in 1976. As I read your book, I felt like I was learning about an entirely different culture rather than doctrinal variations, e.g., Calvinism or Arminiasm, among mainline denominations.
Up until fairly recently my church, which is a few miles from the Reagan Library, had people with a mix of theological views ranging from fundamentalist to progressive as well as a broad mix of political views. Starting with Trump and accelerated during the pandemic, local churches have become more sorted along ideological lines. My church has lost cultural conservatives, but gained millennial and Gen Z people, as well as older exvangelicals including men and women with divinity degrees. The culture has moved steadily in the progressive direction. At the same time, other local churches, based on their public pronouncements. appear to have an increasingly militant culture like what you described in J&JW.
Some of us alternate between lamenting the increasing polarization and thinking we should identify as a different religion entirely.
While the scholarship is impeccable, the thing that makes your work so valuable is your willingness to explain how your own faith causes you to see the issues. Those of us trying to speak to both the Trumpy boomers in the pews and their ex-vangelical kids need all the help we can get!
Another excellent article in uncovering and addressing the complexity and nuance of so-called orthodox narratives, and in this context may your probing and critical ‘voice’ continue … stay strong 💪!
Having participated a fair amount in local politics, I often hear the "Christian America" narrative. I was helped a few decades ago by James Skillen's description of the founding of America as a "mixed bag"--with Christian influence, but also of considerable Deistic and Enlightenment influence. Thus the claims of Christian Nationalism are simply not the whole story. I wonder if you find Skillen's crisp description to be useful and accurate?
Thank you, Kristin, for sharing your response to the CNN article.
It seems to me that an important first step for Christians is admitting that there is no simple biblical message or gospel, especially when it comes to how to live out our faith in this world. You allude to this point in these sentences:
"Yes, you can prooftext a Bible verse to make the case for a religion of conquest or liberation. But how do we interpret these passages? Is Jesus a conquering warrior who calls us to fight his battles? Is he a suffering servant who offers himself as a sacrifice and bids us do the same? "
The Bible is not a simple guidebook for living. In particular, I become frustrated when children and young adults are taught--"Here are THE Christian positions"--on poverty, war, women's healthcare, the environment, you name it. We must nuance conversations about "Biblical perspective" and also value what academic disciplines show us to be true about the world. --Kim
I was fascinated by "Jesus and John Wayne". I am a lifelong mainline Christian: Congregational/United Church of Christ, then Methodist and for the last 20 years Presbyterian Church (USA). I was unfamiliar with evangelicalism until my wife and I moved to Southern California in 1976. As I read your book, I felt like I was learning about an entirely different culture rather than doctrinal variations, e.g., Calvinism or Arminiasm, among mainline denominations.
Up until fairly recently my church, which is a few miles from the Reagan Library, had people with a mix of theological views ranging from fundamentalist to progressive as well as a broad mix of political views. Starting with Trump and accelerated during the pandemic, local churches have become more sorted along ideological lines. My church has lost cultural conservatives, but gained millennial and Gen Z people, as well as older exvangelicals including men and women with divinity degrees. The culture has moved steadily in the progressive direction. At the same time, other local churches, based on their public pronouncements. appear to have an increasingly militant culture like what you described in J&JW.
Some of us alternate between lamenting the increasing polarization and thinking we should identify as a different religion entirely.
While the scholarship is impeccable, the thing that makes your work so valuable is your willingness to explain how your own faith causes you to see the issues. Those of us trying to speak to both the Trumpy boomers in the pews and their ex-vangelical kids need all the help we can get!
Another excellent article in uncovering and addressing the complexity and nuance of so-called orthodox narratives, and in this context may your probing and critical ‘voice’ continue … stay strong 💪!
Thank you.
An exceptionally helpful & enlightening explanation.
Having participated a fair amount in local politics, I often hear the "Christian America" narrative. I was helped a few decades ago by James Skillen's description of the founding of America as a "mixed bag"--with Christian influence, but also of considerable Deistic and Enlightenment influence. Thus the claims of Christian Nationalism are simply not the whole story. I wonder if you find Skillen's crisp description to be useful and accurate?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/14/opinion/god-culture-war-politics.html
Tish Harrison Warren has quite an interesting article in her weekly NYT post
Thank you, Kristin, for sharing your response to the CNN article.
It seems to me that an important first step for Christians is admitting that there is no simple biblical message or gospel, especially when it comes to how to live out our faith in this world. You allude to this point in these sentences:
"Yes, you can prooftext a Bible verse to make the case for a religion of conquest or liberation. But how do we interpret these passages? Is Jesus a conquering warrior who calls us to fight his battles? Is he a suffering servant who offers himself as a sacrifice and bids us do the same? "
The Bible is not a simple guidebook for living. In particular, I become frustrated when children and young adults are taught--"Here are THE Christian positions"--on poverty, war, women's healthcare, the environment, you name it. We must nuance conversations about "Biblical perspective" and also value what academic disciplines show us to be true about the world. --Kim
I think "imposter" was an unfortunate word choice -- maybe put in by an editor? Maybe the headline itself..... misleading.