Three Book Series Opportunity - The Dominant US American Christianity Narrative - How did we get here?

Three book series:

1. William C. Compton's "The End of Empathy: Why White Protestants Stopped Loving Their Neighbors." Discussion on Nov. 22nd and Dec. 6th @10am

2. Kristin Kobes Du Mez, "Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation."

3. Kristin Kobes Du Mez, "Live, Laugh, Love: The Secret History of Christian Women and the World They Made."

If you have ever wondered how we got to where we are in US American Christianity in the last decade this book series is for you!

You won't be surprised that historians have traced this back more than a hundred years, outlining how certain historical figures, corporate interests, sub -culture economies, and major organizations from the Federal Council of Churches to the Moral Majority have shaped what we're now saying about Jesus and the Church today. If you're interested in taking a deeper dive, including pacing through reading a three book series (a month to read, then a 1-2 week forum), then St. Columba's has an adult forum offering just for you. 

We'll start with William C. Compton's "The End of Empathy: Why White Protestants Stopped Loving Their Neighbors" as he traces the formation of the Federal Council of Churches and the growing Evangelical response from the 1890s into the 1970s. You'll learn how cultural shifts, big business, and the triumph of organizing to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the triumph before the fall of mainline Christianity. 

Starting immediately at the point that Compton ends, Kristin Kobes Du Mez picks up in the 1970s into the early 2020s in Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. Here we read how a version of performative masculinity and Christian Nationalism became the dominant paradigm of American Christianity. 

In September 2026, Du Mez followed up with a deeper dive into cultural shifts, micro- and macroeconomic trends of consumer Christianity, and the historical roots of positive thinking and prosperity theology. "Live, Laugh, Love: The Secret History of Christian Women and the World They Made" loops both The End of Empathy and Jesus and John Wayne into the messy but mesmerizing tapestry of dominant American Christianity. 

These books will be more informative by taking a month to go through each, then taking a couple of weeks to digest together what we learned from each. Let Meghan or Micah know if you are interested!