However, Du Mez presents RC Sproul and Abdul Saleeb’s book The Dark Side of Islam as a questionable selection. To be sure, anyone with a thimble of theological knowledge who walks into a brick and mortar LifeWay will be dissapointed at some of the selections that are sold. I will present these in the order I encountered themįirst, on pages 9 and 10 Du Mez discusses what she considers to be dubious product stocking at LifeWay Christian Stores. There were three specific areas that I felt that Du Mez was unable to set her biases aside. No one is void of prejudices and often, when writing history, this prejudice can come out in the tones with which one presents a certain topic. The Authors BiasesĪs an avid history reader, I am always on the lookout for bias when reading. I must say that for the last few years I’ve fallen somewhere in the middle between complementarianism and egalitarianism, both seem to offer restrictive and eisegetical views so I’ve probably leaned towards agreeing with Du Mez before I read the book since I listened to several podcast interviews with her but I was still apprehensive about reading the book. The book is academic in nature and is therefore heavily footnoted so rather than reading like a conspiracy theory, each quote and reference is carefully documented for your additional research in case you don’t believe her or want to check the context of a quote. Many of the attitudes that Du Mez brought out in the book I was already aware of but I didn’t realize all the connections. My mom and many of my friends attended Bob Jones University (also discussed in the book, I applied there myself and was accepted although it was too expensive in the end), and when I left the IFB it was the writings and sermons of John MacArthur, John Piper, Wayne Grudem, Al Mohler, and Russell Moore that helped to form my theology and thinking over the last decade. My parents had an encounter with Bill Gothard and IBLP in Kansas City in the 70s, my family were active members of HSLDA, we shopped Doug Phillip’s Vision Forum catalog, watched John Wayne movies on the regular, and considered Ronald Reagan one step short of sainthood. My parents decided to start homeschooling after listening to James Dobson’s radio program back in the early 80s and this matter is discussed at length in the book. Where Do I Fall?Īs for myself I saw many familiar characters and the story very much resonated with me. The SBC Conservative Resurgence is discussed at length (more on that in a bit) as are the histories of popular books on Biblical Womanhood and Manhood and Christian marriage, and the Moral Majority and Concerned Women for America. In addition to names and places, movements like Quiverfull, the IFB, and Complementarianism are documented. Not to worry if you’re Pentecostal or Charismatic because there are plenty of appearances for you as well in Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, and Pat Robertson. If you spent a lot of time in the conservative Christian homeschool movement sphere then you will be reintroduced to Doug Phillips (Vision Forum), Bill Gothard (Institute for Basic Life Principles), and Michael Farris (Homeschool Legal Defense Association and Patrick Henry College. If you spent much time in the Southern Baptist Convention then you will see familiar names like Al Mohler, Paige Patterson, Robert Jeffress, and Russell Moore. If you have spent much time in conservative evangelical spheres you will also recognize names like Jerry Falwell (founder of Liberty University and the Moral Majority), John MacArthur (Grace To You), John Piper (Desiring God), Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill), John Eldregde ( Wild at Heart), Wayne Grudem ( Systematic Theology), Ted Haggard (former president of the National Association of Evangelicals), Tim and Beverly LaHaye (Think “Left Behind”), and James Dobson (Focus on the Family). In between we meet familiar characters from our culture at large like Teddy Roosevelt, Billy Graham, Ronald Reagan, John Wayne (obviously), and Barack Obama. An Overviewĭu Mez offers a sweeping and fast-paced narrative starting from the end of the Victorian era in American and ending with the COVID era. However, if you were, like me, raised in the conservative evangelical movement and have had to personally reckon with your experiences, then this books sheds a lot of light and connects a lot of dots.
Do not come to this book expecting a way forward to be presented.
As an historian she is primarily presenting facts, not theology. Kristen Kobes Du Mez is a professor of history at Calvin University and as such the book she has written does not offer solutions on the problems she brings to light. As someone who grew up both in the Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) movement and the homeschool movement, this book told the story of my life.