Cover Reveal! + Pre-Order Link

Get the first look at my new book, Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood

Hi Readers,

And a special welcome to everyone who’s just joined us this week.

This community of

I'm Listening

is really special to me. Every Sunday, I send out a newsletter focused either on Bible texts for the day, or on what’s happening in our world that Sunday. More importantly - we have a space there for prayer. Recently, you all were a part of praying for healing for my youngest son, who was hospitalized with pneumonia. Our prayers were answered. I’m so grateful for that.

Today is a special post. In the midst of arguing with my health insurance company (who’s trying to deny coverage, predictably), and in the midst of a political firestorm in America wrought by two power-hungry political parties isolated from the needs and desires of everyday Americans (the Democrats unfortunately emulating Republicans in this case as of late, competing to join the Christian Nationalist thirst for absolute power and putting personal needs over the wellbeing of the country) … as well as an extremist Supreme Court who’s setting the stage for the Christian Nationalist aims of Project 2025, in short, a vision of America where human rights for everyone except rich white men (with the exception of gun ownership?) are severely curtailed …

In the midst of … all that …

I HAVE SOME GOOD NEWS!

You’re the first to see the cover for my new book,

Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood!

Order on:

Bookshop (Indies)

Barnes & Noble

Comma (Minneapolis: Linden Hills)

Seeing the cover design of your book is a big moment for writers. This whole thing began first as a conversation with an editor, then as more conversations with parents and pastors and leaders and coaches and teenage boys and young men themselves … then it became a rough table of contents laid out at 3 a.m. in the Notes app of my phone.

I took reporting trips to the rural Midwest, to South Carolina, and to Arizona, where I heard stories that both broke my heart and renewed my faith.

During it all, I watched my own two white sons grow up - and the importance of this book was hammered even more heavily into my soul.

I told my publisher I wanted this book cover to be journalistic, and to somehow capture the idea of the heart of America, familiar, but also with a sense that what has always been familiar has now become sinister and dangerous - and that the danger is coming not from the outside but from within the heart of white Christian America itself.

I think this cover does so quite brilliantly. It evokes so much of what I want to say. As they say, sometimes a picture is really worth 1,000 words.

But if you like words (and I’m assuming you do, if you’re reading this!)

I HAVE MORE GOOD NEWS!

You can actually PRE-ORDER this book RIGHT NOW. (And given the way that Amazon and B&N operate lately, you’ll likely get it way before the published launch date of March 25, 2025 - also my 40th birthday. Accepting early preorder birthday gifts, haha)

Here’s the link for Amazon

And here’s the link for Barnes & Noble

Support your local indie bookstore by using this link, for Bookshop

Twin Cities neighbors, you can order at Minneapolis (Linden Hills) Comma bookshop, here

And church leader folks, you can also order directly from Broadleaf Books here

I know we all have mixed feelings about Amazon at this point, so here’s my 2 cents on that.

Lore Wilbert

talked about this recently on her Substack, too (thanks Lore!) Basically - Amazon preorders have the biggest say as far as helping the book to find its way into more and more libraries and independent bookstores, including potentially helping it to make bestseller lists (if everyone who subscribes to this Substack preordered it … we’d likely make the New York Times!)

So, if you have a Prime account and like Amazon - go ahead and order there. BUT, I’m also a huge fan of Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop is a great place to support the indie bookstores who are authors’ best friends in so many ways. So I’m super appreciative of orders there, too, and both of those places are probably more ideologically aligned with the continuation of books like this one, which was written by a non-celebrity (yours truly).

Curious about the book? Here’s some info from the back cover:

White boys and men are dangerous.

White boys and men are struggling.

Both of these statements are staggeringly true in America today. By far, most large-scale mass shooters are white men. White men also die by suicide more often than any other demographic. In this sensitive, searing, and unsparing look at American boyhood, journalist, mother, and pastor Angela Denker investigates the sometimes-tragic stories of boyhood across the United States.

Disciples of White Jesus is a comprehensive look at the rise in radicalization among young white men in America, especially focused on the role of right-wing Christianity in the increase of religious-based hatred and violence. Denker goes deep into the online rabbit holes of right-wing Christian influencers and conservative Christian ideology to understand how the preaching of "traditional gender roles" and "submission of women" has led to anger, outrage, loneliness, depression, and limiting identities for young white Christian men across America.

Casting her journalist's eye across the US, Denker retraces the steps of a racist South Carolina mass shooter and a Phoenix skinhead turned Evangelical pastor, interviews middle school teachers and coaches in the Midwest, and introduces us to young men across the country who will both confirm and confound our ideas about American boyhood--stories about boys and men who are forging new identities grounded in kindness, grace, respect, and even joy. A must-read for parents, grandparents, educators, coaches, faith leaders, researchers, and all who care about the state of American families, boys themselves, and the safety of American society at large.

And more …

I wrote about coming up with the new title and also shared a brief excerpt here:

It’s July 4 week in America. What a time to be alive.

I’ll have more posts coming to you soon, including a Sunday Stretch in just a few days with some texts that really speak to our current moment in a way I need to keep reading - and rereading - and rereading.

And they’ll be much more to come about the book. I’ve sent along the PDF to a few early readers, and I’m anxiously waiting to hear what they think. I’ll be sure to share their thoughts with you as soon as they come in.

For now - just know how grateful I am for you, and I wanted to share this with you first. I’m really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the book, too, and hopefully we can get some early copies into some of your hands!

In solidarity and hope,

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.