A provocative new book, Shepherds for Sale, by Megan Basham of The Daily Wire, argues that many Christian leaders are leading the American church astray by promoting heretical views on sexuality, gender, race, and environmental issues.
After listening to part of an interview with Basham and reading some reviews, I decided not to read her book but to download another one that I’ve wanted to read for years: Jesus and John Wayne. Though this book also deals with heresy, its author, Dr. Kristen Kobes Du Mez, sees the main threat as coming from misogynistic patriarchy instead of “progressive” Christians.
If I’m honest, part of my choice was driven by a desire to bolster my beliefs and exchange rah-rahs with my tribe before tackling a book by a Daily Wire staff member. I find it much easier to sympathize with Du Mez, who argues that evangelical leaders who maintain the status quo are far more effective assassins of the faith than progressives could ever hope to be.
Du Mez is first a storyteller. From the beginning, it’s clear the book will culminate with the question, “How did so many American evangelicals come to support Trump?” Yet, she unravels the narrative deftly, making it feel more like a political thriller than a history lesson. She begins in the 1950s, exploring how evangelical views on masculinity evolved over time.
The book kept me guessing (in a good way) about its thesis, though I could tell early on that it had something to do with the evangelical obsession with male power and the paranoia about female leadership. I was initially skeptical that Du Mez could connect such diffuse figures as Billy Graham, Richard Nixon, Phyllis Schlafly, and John Eldredge into a cohesive narrative. And while some case studies were weaker than others, Du Mez’s thorough research and deep immersion in her subjects’ lives were evident. She is a first-rate scholar.
The most difficult part of the book was reading about the crimes against women and the numerous cover-ups by revered evangelical leaders. Du Mez rigorously documents these incidents, highlighting how leaders used scripture and Christianese to justify their actions, making it difficult for victims to recognize abuse. In the end, I boil her thesis down to this: the evangelical church’s hardnosed insistence on complementarianism has led to its moral downfall, culminating in its support for Trump.
While I share Du Mez’s egalitarian views (insofar as terms like egalitarian and complementarian are helpful), I’m left wondering, “What now?” Should we all go out and vote Democrat? Take the high moral ground over those who refuse to confront power dynamics? While I give Du Mez top marks for her research, I’m more reserved about her obviously judgmental attitude toward the “other.” For most of the book, she disciplines herself and avoids value judgments, but toward the end, she sometimes slips gratuitously into a tone bordering on contempt. For example, she calls someone a “pseudo-intellectual”; is she a bona fide intellectual?
Although she is writing as a historian–and her thorough documentation is commendable–she might have reached a wider audience by showing more compassion and shared humanity toward those she critiques; by remembering, as Solzhenitsyn once said, that the line between good and evil runs through every human heart. For instance, she briefly mentions John Piper’s refusal to support Trump—a noble stance that could have been highlighted as an example of courage.
Perhaps the unadorned brutality of her narrative is more effective for changing some readers’ minds. Personally, although it confirmed more of my beliefs than it challenged, I’m glad I read it. It helps me understand why so many kind and decent people I know could embrace Trumpism. They are swimming, we are swimming, in cultural waters whose floodgates were opened decades ago.
It also provided a refresher on American history and taught me the proper use of the author’s favourite adjective: nascent.
Overall rating: 3.5/5 stars.