Jesus and john wayne discussion questions

#Jesus and john wayne discussion questions full#

This is a profound call for a radical culture shiftвЂ•truly a must-read.

If we want to offer a narcissistic culture hope in the gospel, we must tend to the narcissism deeply embedded in our own believing community.

#Jesus and john wayne discussion questions full#

This is a landmark work, full of wisdom, tenderness, honor, and hope. Chuck DeGroat pierces the glittering image of narcissism and brilliantly exposes the inner workings of an empty, shame-filled heart and the devastating consequences of Christians being so drawn to narcissists in the church and in politics. The ground is gorgeous but in due season the flood will devour all you have worked so hard to create. 'Hiring (marrying, working with or for, being pastored by) a narcissist is like building a home in an alluvial plain. When Narcissism Comes to Church: Healing Your Community From Emotional and Spiritual Abuse by Chuck DeGroatДan Allender, who I so appreciate, said about the book, Indeed, the values and viewpoints at the heart of white evangelicalism todayвЂ•patriarchy, authoritarian rule, aggressive foreign policy, fear of Islam, ambivalence toward #MeToo, and opposition to Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ communityвЂ•are likely to persist long after Trump leaves office.ДЄ much-needed reexamination, Jesus and John Wayne explains why evangelicals have rallied behind the least-Christian president in American history and how they have transformed their faith in the process, with enduring consequences for all of us.By the way, this one looks like a good read on the subject, and appropriate given the Trump (narcissist) phenomenon that underlines Jesus and John Wayne. Jesus and John Wayne is a sweeping, revisionist history of the last seventy-five years of white evangelicalism, revealing how evangelicals have worked to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalismor in the words of one modern chaplain, with a spiritual badass. Trump, in other words, is hardly the first flashy celebrity to capture evangelicalsвЂ™ hearts and minds, nor is he the first strongman to promise evangelicals protection and power. And evangelical popular culture is teeming with muscular heroesвЂ•mythical warriors and rugged soldiers, men like Oliver North, Ronald Reagan, Mel Gibson, and the Duck Dynasty clan, who assert white masculine power in defense of вЂњChristian America.вЂќ Chief among these evangelical legends is John Wayne, an icon of a lost time when men were uncowed by political correctness, unafraid to tell it like it was, and did what needed to be done. Evangelical books, films, music, clothing, and merchandise shape the beliefs of millions. Many of todayвЂ™s evangelicals may not be theologically astute, but they know their VeggieTales, theyвЂ™ve read John EldredgeвЂ™s Wild at Heart, and they learned about purity before they learned about sexвЂ•and they have a silver ring to prove it.

Jesus and John Wayne is a sweeping account of the last seventy-five years of white evangelicalism, showing how American evangelicals have worked for decades to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism, or in the words of one modern chaplain, with вЂњa spiritual badass.вЂќ As Du Mez explains, the key to understanding this transformation is to recognize the role of culture in modern American evangelicalism. Challenging the commonly held assumption that the вЂњmoral majorityвЂќ backed Donald Trump for purely pragmatic reasons, Du Mez reveals that Donald Trump in fact represents the fulfillment, rather than the betrayal, of white evangelicalsвЂ™ most deeply held values. How did a libertine who lacks even the most basic knowledge of the Christian faith win 81 percent of the white evangelical vote in 2016? And why have white evangelicals become a presidential reprobateвЂ™s staunchest supporters? These are among the questions acclaimed historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez asks in Jesus and John Wayne, which delves beyond facile headlines to explain how white evangelicals have brought us to our fractured political moment. A scholar of American Christianity answers perhaps the most bewildering question of our time: Why are evangelicals вЂњthe DonaldвЂ™sвЂќ most fervent supporters?