After finishing the helpful, and highly acclaimed, "Jesus and John Wayne" by @kkdumez, I'm thinking about the style of the book from a publishing perspective—what has made this book so successful?
– It is brief and dense so it is efficient. That is, readers get a feeling that they are learning quickly. It has been diligently edited to be concise. It keeps the attention of the reader used to reading Twitter or watching YouTube or The Crown or listening to podcasts.
– There is less analysis in the sense of "on the one hand, on the other hand." Instead of telling, there is showing—with example after example, and quote after quote. The effect is the takeaway that this Christian masculinity was not just one person but an ideological movement.
– The reader learns the gist of each story. Details are in the endnotes. If adjectives are used, they evoke the point being made.
– The scope is mostly limited to 100 years: 1925 Scopes Trial to 2020.
– It is, as Du Mez says, dependent on the work of journalists.
– It is particularly credible because of Du Mez's training in history and her position at an historically evangelical university.
– It has very little prescription of what should be done. The moral lessons are obvious as they are in the books of 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings: Beware of their errors! (History is the most effective genre for shaping morally good leaders in my opinion).
– I'm thankful for Du Mez's many tweets and posts pointing to the work of others (see https://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2020/10/after-jesus-and-john-wayne/amp/) because I too thought often, "If people liked that, they should also read …" Seeking truth is a team effort.
For any of us interested in the health of Christianity in America, it is great to see well-researched, courageous books like "Jesus and John Wayne," (and last year and earlier in this summer, The Color of Compromise by @JemarTisby), hit a nerve and reach a broad audience.
Many professors will research specific issues in more detail, which is crucial for the pursuit of truth. (If you are intrigued by or bothered by one paragraph in Jesus and John Wayne, research that)!
But it is also useful to have these synthetic, more accessible works, that are able to bring much information to a broader audience. One huge problem we have in the USA is people operating with totally different settled facts in their minds.
Thank you to @kkdumez for this fantastic book. And thank you to others who write great books that don't quite sell like hers but do influence some! And thanks to journalists, those who research, those who tweet, and truth-tellers everywhere who contribute to truth being revealed.
Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on December 17, 2020.