Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

22 reviews

caffeineuro's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

5.0

buckle up for this one- it’s a TOUGH read. multiple instances of wanting to throw the book across the room or scream. very very important research and information- especially in light of our current political environment. 10/10 would recommend. incredible book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Rape, Transphobia, Colonisation, Sexual assault, and Sexism

The fact that all those disclaimers needed to happen for a book about american christianity…sigh.

c100's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

kayschwe's review

informative slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Slavery

matthewclan's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Islamophobia and Racism

Minor: Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

abutler's review

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

elly29's review against another edition

challenging informative sad slow-paced

3.25

There was a deluge of information, and I'm unsure I processed or retained a lot of it. I listened, and had to go back again to catch a lot of what Du Mez said. Notably, there were a lot of players -- both individuals and organizations -- that contributed to the coalescence of white conservative evangelicalism and christian nationalism, and it was difficult sometimes to get a picture of how they all fit together. It starts with Billy Graham, and John Wayne, and moves to Oliver North and James Dobson and Jerry Falwell. I think Du Mez did the best she could to make a cohesive narrative out of it, but I'm still reeling and can't express the things I learned from it.

At times, I wanted to breathe fire. For example, with Marabel Morgan's "Total Woman," which set women back by a century, or the purity circles, or Chapters 16 which was on how Christian evangelical patriarchy self-justified abuse (major content warning on that, about victim-blaming). A lot of the tools that crystallized the cultural movement were the same through 1960, 1980, and 2010: a focus on a (fragile! They emphasized that the male ego was fragile and needed assuaging!!) male ego, with a docile/submissive femininity that needed protection (but who will protect women from self-aggrandizing, power-hungry patriarchs?).

Some of it hit close to home, as Du Mez mentioned Mormonism on occasion, and the same scandals in evangelicalism and Catholicism have occurred.

I... I have so much less sympathy for the culture of evangelicalism. It is divorced from any sense of religion. And, it drives home the point that Trump's election was a litmus test of our political and cultural climate: that a swathe of white males are frantic about losing their position in society. (It really is all about racism -- which Du Mez acknowledged briefly, but not enough). Very interesting to read this on the heels of Wilkerson's "Caste" and Haidt's "The Righteous Mind": definitely evangelicals/conservatism appeals to Authority/Order, Sacredness (ish?). 

Like, I still don't know what to do with this book, y'all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Racism, Violence, War, and Islamophobia

Minor: Homophobia and Abortion

It's a cultural-polticial-historical analysis, so it discusses and analyzes sexism, misogyny, homophobia, abortion, etc, not necessarily graphic detail. However, Chapter 16 was rough on the sheer volume of evidence of sexual abuse, and conservative christians' dismissal of sexual abuse. If you're sensitive to discussion like that, steer clear!

spookyfaith's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

 

holy shit I don’t have the words to describe this book. I had been waiting for months for it to release and wow was it worth the wait. 

this is absolutely required reading for anyone who grew up evangelical, whether you’re deconstructing or not. it goes into the historical details of how American evangelicalism was shaped by toxic masculinity and white nationalism. it explains how politics, capitalism, and modern culture have created the version of Christianity we know today, in America. 

I knew so much of Christian theology stemmed from conservative politics, power, and abuse but I had no idea the horrific depths it went to. the people that have made evangelicalism what it is today did so out of the desire for power and selfish ambition, and as a result, thousands of individuals are now the victims of abuse of many kinds, (myself included.) 

bad things don’t just happen in churches; they are primed to happen. the abuse, racism, homophobia, and the “othering” of all non white, cishet men is the direct result of the culture and theology we have built. abuse is the natural consequence of a theology based on militantancy, toxic masculinity, and complementarianism. once we can recognize how much of our beliefs don’t actually stem from the Bible, but rather from relatively new interpretations of scripture and a lot of cultural baggage. 

If you read one book this year, make it this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, Islamophobia, and Homophobia

Content about spiritual abuse

sarahholliday's review against another edition

challenging informative

4.25

An impressive analysis of the insidious influence militant masculinity, patriarchy, and white supremacy have had on American evangelicalism and American culture more broadly. The evidence is abundant and the arguments convincing, though I wish de Mez would've drawn explicit connections between these systems and abuse earlier in the work, rather than leaving the bulk of that particular discussion for the final chapter. 

Overall, I loved this much-needed work and want to put it into the hands of everyone I know.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Transphobia

Minor: Rape

kaitlinlovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

It’s going to take me awhile to form a coherent review. This is an incredibly well-researched, eye-opening book like nothing I’ve read about Evangelicalism before. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

drusilla_reads's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia