Jesus and John Wayne: A reckoning

Kristin Du Mez is a professor of history at Calvin University in Grand Rapids Michigan in the United States. Her research focuses on the intersections of gender, religion, and politics in recent American history. Last year she published Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, a study of white evangelical views of masculinity from the Cold War to the present, culminating in the election of Donald Trump. Kristin's book reached number four on the New York Times best sellar list last month, so it's obviously having an impact. She tells Communication Mixdown why she wrote the book, what her research revealed and how people have responded to the book in the US.

For Australians, Kristin's book is a cautionary tale about what we might expect if Christian Right activists succeed in their efforts to move State Lberal Parties and the Coalition even further to the right to take up Trump-style policies.

Kristin Du Mez is a keynote speaker at a Symposium organised by the Australian Catholic University and Deakin University and brings together North American and Australian researchers to look at the way Christianity has related to public life in each country over the past 50 years.

Symposium details:
Title: Intellectual Authority and its Changing Infrastructures in North American and Australian Christianity, 1960s-2010s

Dates: July 29-30

Venue: Online and in-person at ACU Brisbane’s CBD Leadership Centre

Cost: Free

Details and registration: https://intellectual-authority.eventbrite.com.au

Also see Washington Post article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/07/16/jesus-and-john-wayne-...