Hi Readers,
Almost exactly one year ago today, I shared with you a lengthy post about a title change for my new forthcoming book, which I had just submitted in entirety to my publisher.
Could I have ever envisioned all that was to come in this topic area (white men and boys, masculinity, violence, Christian fundamentalism, Trumpism, gender-based discrimination, hate, emerging masculine identities, radicalization in online spaces) … in the year to come?
The answer is no, absolutely not.
I wrote my first book in the wake of Trump’s first election in 2016, which sent me on a journey across America to report on the Christian voters who had deemed him their political savior.
More than 8 years later, here I am releasing another book: this one focused on white men and boys - in the wake of Trump’s second election to the U.S. Presidency, one that has ushered in a whole new era of gender-based violence, radicalization, and the emergence of a new (yet ancient) Christian fundamentalism that insists upon a strict gender hierarchy, and a vision of masculinity that insists on violence and authoritarian rule.
There’s just one month to go until the book officially launches. If you haven’t already, I would really appreciate you pre-ordering the book (links above - or your local bookstore!) and also please do share the book with anyone in your communities who might find it helpful. It’s especially written for parents, for grandparents, for teachers and coaches and educators and faith leaders. It’s written from a place of deep concern but also an equally deep place of love for the white men and boys in my family and in my life (which you’ll see when you read the dedication).
Here’s a few lines I shared before that help explain the book’s title:
… when I told people I was writing about boys and men and religion and radicalization, invariably, from New York City to the rural Midwest to Phoenix to South Carolina, they’d look at me with a little twinkle in their eye, and they’d ask: “Are you going to talk about White Jesus?”
As an ordained pastor with a master’s degree in divinity from a Christian seminary, talking about Jesus was kind of one of my specialties. But these folks weren’t asking me for a sermon, or for an explanation of a Bible verse, or even for a prayer. They wanted me to distinguish between the theological and historical brown-skinned Middle Eastern and Jewish Jesus, and the Jesus who is a creation of white American Christianity, a progenitor of the Christian industrial complex that brought us megachurches and celebrity preachers and New York Times bestsellers and the Prosperity Gospel and Donald Trump. White Jesus is to Jesus Christ as Instagram momfluencers and babies are to actual mothers and children. One is a brand meant to sell and control and influence and manipulate and create division and hierarchy. The other is complicated, humble, incarnate, vulnerable, persecuted, redeemed. …
And … here’s a little sneak peek, featuring one of the early Christian progenitor’s/grifters of America’s iteration of White Jesus for the 21st Century, disgraced pastor Mark Driscoll (featured on The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast)
While Driscoll’s early sermons and books at least sound like the work of a true convert, a zealous believer with real intentions to help people meet the Jesus he thought he knew (even if the Jesus he describes is inaccurately violent, angry, and hyper-masculine) the Driscoll I encountered in Scottsdale in 2024 was cynical, faithless, and concerned most with promoting himself and proving his own prosperous bona fides, sliding Jesus in as a sort of side dish to his main course of misogyny, anger, and self-congratulatory remarks. While I didn't see too many traditional “churchy” elements at Trinity, and the worship space was devoid of worshipful or holy spaces marked by crosses or stained glass or holy water, I did see lots of mini-altars to Driscoll himself. Numerous digital signs and flatscreen TVs flashed ways to buy Driscoll’s course material and visit his website. You could also buy his latest books outside the worship center, one entitled War, or t-shirts emblazoned with eagles’ wings motifs and the words “More Fathers,” or “Real Men.” The bookcase with items for sale did not appear to contain any Bibles, or any books written by anyone other than Driscoll himself and his wife, Grace. During his nearly hour-long sermon, which was followed by zero time for communion or musical worship, Driscoll at one point enumerated his son’s reasons for dropping out of Arizona State University, in what appeared to be a cursory plaudit to fire up his audience’s appetite for conservative culture wars.
“He couldn’t do the pronoun thing,” Driscoll said of his son, referring to the practice of listing your pronouns after your name, then going on to share an anecdote about how one of his son’s professors had assigned the class a reading from communist political theorist Karl Marx, who Driscoll called “a mass murderer.” For the record, the German-born Marx was dead 37 years before the Russian Revolution, and while I suppose you could make an argument pinning mass murder in the Soviet Union and Communist China on the communist system, the more accurate blame belongs to dictators Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin, both of whom continue to be lionized and admired in authoritarian Russia and China. But Driscoll wasn't there to critique authoritarian strongmen, of course. He’d rather falsely accuse a political theorist who never killed anyone.
There’s a lot more to come. And before I forget, please consider this your official invite to upcoming launch events:
MARCH 25
Minneapolis Launch Event + Birthday Party, 6:30 p.m.
Linden Hills
Minneapolis, MN
Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood
MARCH 26
NYC Launch Event, 6:30 p.m.
In conversation with journalist and author Anne Nelson
Carnegie Hill, Manhattan (UES)
MARCH 30, 9 and 11 a.m.
Church Launch Event: Preaching and forum between services
Edina Community Lutheran Church
Edina, MN
Find many more events (updating all the time) on my website events page: https://www.angeladenker.com/upcoming-events
And let me know if you’d like to book me to speak at your university, school, church, house of worship, or any other community group!
Book club appearances also available upon request.
Thank YOU for being such an important part of my work and life,
Angela
P.S. …
A Few Notes:
First, a huge THANK YOU to all subscribers. I get a little email notification every time someone signs up, and every time I get one, I feel joyful and honored that you want to spend part of your day with this community. I mean it when I say: “I’m listening,” to you as well, and please don’t hesitate to share with me your thoughts + ideas for what you’d like to read in this space.
To PAID SUBSCRIBERS: I am humbled and honored that you’ve chosen to spend part of your limited budget on this newsletter. To borrow words from another newsletter I love, you are directly funding freelance journalism with your subscription, and I have to thank you more than ever for your continued support. Our world’s media and journalism is in a state of crisis, with fewer and fewer billionaires in control of global news outlets, and journalists being either laid off or threatened with violence for their work every single day; with fewer and fewer newsroom positions paying a living wage. I pledge to you to steward your paid subscription faithfully + use it to support honest, hard-working, and LOCAL journalism. One of my goals in this first year is to open this newsletter to other journalists, and pay them a fair wage for their work.
THANK YOU for your support. If you’re not a paid subscriber, please consider becoming one.
On free vs. paid-subscriber posts only: My plan right now is that the Friday + Sunday posts, focusing on news + spirituality, in that order, are available for subscribers only (I am going to continue sharing a sample, with a line where the paywall cuts off for our paid subscriber community). My plan is that the Tuesday blog-style posts will always be free, to enable as much access as possible, while creating a smaller and more intimate experience for paid subscribers, who are also able to comment and share in community in fuller ways.
Free Trial: Substack always offers a free week-long trial subscription to this newsletter, so you can get a taste of the Friday + Sunday posts and see if you’d like to subscribe!
If a paid subscription is a hardship for you, but you’d like access to the Friday + Sunday posts: PLEASE do not hesitate to reach out. I will be happy to provide a complimentary subscription for you.
Share this post