How Studying History Can Help The Church Tell The Truth, Face Reality, & Confront Harmful Systems with Kristin Kobes Du Mez

Maya Angelou once said, “"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, however, if faced with courage, need not be lived again."

The discipline of reading and studying history is not to make us feel good. It’s to instruct us so we don’t repeat the same mistakes.

One of the greatest living historians of American Christianity is Kristin Kobes Du Mez. Her book Jesus And John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation explores how American evangelicalism embraced militant masculinity and Christian nationalism. It was released in 2020 and was a worldwide bestseller. It’s not an easy book to ready, but helps to make sense of so much what we’re seeing in America today.

Her new book Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made is another tour de force. It’s a sweeping history about Christian women, but it’s not only for women to read. We break it down in this interview and talk about 19th century holiness evangelicalism, the widespread influence of Hannah Whitall Smith and her book “A Christian’s Secret to a Happy Life”, the marketing machine of American religion, influential women artists in Christian music, why it’s impossible to be apolitical, and why we need to pay attention to stories of spiritual abuse.

Historians are not our enemies, even if they tell us what we don’t want to hear. Be prepared to be surprised, infuriated, challenged, and motivated to work towards a healthier church.

Topics Covered:

• The surprising success of Jesus And John Wayne
• What the critics of J&JW are saying
• Why critiquing evangelical culture is so challenging
• Why Kristin was talking about Doug Wilson before he was national news
• The origins of Live Laugh Love
• Hannah Whitall Smith and her influence on Christian women's culture
• 19th century holiness evangelicalism and it's influence today
• The marketing machine of American religion
• Why it's impossible to be apolitical
• Why what is marketed as biblical is not always biblical
• The fascinating and tragic story of Elizabeth Elliot

Resources Mentioned:

• Show Sponsor: Dwell Bible App
• Show Sponsor: Planning Center
• Live Laugh Love by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
• Jesus And John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
• All The Frequent Troubles of Our Days by Rebecca Donner

Show Sponsor #1: Dwell Bible

This episode is brought to you by the Dwell Bible app. Did you have big plans to listen to the Bible in a Year in 2026, but life seemed to get in the way? 

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Show Sponsor #2: Planning Center

This episode is brought to you by Planning Center, helping you sync all your ministry details across your whole church.

Planning Center has become so essential to how I manage a team, that it’s almost impossible to consider local church ministry without it anymore.

Today, I want to leave you with a PCO pro-tip.

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To see what else you can do to make your Sundays easier, go to planningcenter.com/blog.