So he is this rugged man who can bring order through violence, really. 'Well, it's the man and the myth, really, with John Wayne. But when they were looking for models of Christian manhood, they really looked to kind of secular heroes or mythical heroes - so warriors or soldiers or cowboys.' 'And when I started reading these books, what struck me was there were only a few Bible verses kind of sprinkled here and there. 'There are millions of copies of books that have been sold within evangelical circles on what does it mean to be a Christian man,' she says. When researching her book, Kristin Kobes Du Mez - a history professor at Calvin University, which is a Christian college in Michigan - concluded that among many evangelicals, the John Wayne side of the argument has been winning. He feels the conflicting demands to be forgiving and combative, gentle and strong. The narrator in the song recalls trying to please both his gentle Christian mother and his tough-guy father. Her book - Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation - which explores the past and present of Christian manhood, takes its title from a Christian song by the Gaither Vocal Band called 'Jesus and John Wayne.' It even affects why so many white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump.

It influences how millions of Americans shape their lives and their politics. The scholar Kristin Kobes Du Mez says the answer matters a lot. Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

Jesus and john wayne book summary