Tag: jesus and john wayne

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Patriarchy-Smashing Egalitarian Beth Allison Barr Submits to Angry White Biological Male

Sometimes real life is stranger than fiction. Egalitarian author and professor Beth Allison Barr prides herself in opposing patriarchy in society and the church. If you ever need to find Barr, she is probably either engaged in an epic Twitter war with Denny Burk or hobnobbing with gal pal and fellow patriarchy-smasher Kristen Du Mez.

Recently, Du Mez and Barr engaged in an epic Twitter conversation with transexual exvangelical author Chrissy Stroop, a white biological male who reviewed Du Mez’s Book Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted A Faith and Fractured A Nation. Stroop’s Boston Globe review praised the book as “A Book that America Needs Now”, a praise that landed on the cover of the paperback edition of the book. Twitter commenters pointed out that when such a false view of Christianity is presented and so-called “Christian” authors look for praise from trannies, God’s judgement on the nation is evident.

Stroop was quick to accept the apologies of Du Mez and Barr for harassment at the hands of conservatives, praising Du Mez’s book as deserving of an excellent review on the basis of its scholarship. Many atheist leftist exvangelicals like Stroop praise the work of leftist “Christian” authors because they share mutual enemies in conservative evangelical circles. Stroop went on to praise Du Mez, Barr, and Jamar Tisby as “scholars” who are subject to “conservative, patriarchal evangelical bullying”.

Praising any of these leftist revisionists as “scholars” is equivalent to calling the New York Times 1689 Project a work of history, despite the fact that the project has been debunked as blatantly false multiple times. Jesus and John Wayne, The Making of Biblical Womanhood, and The Color of Compromise are all revisionist works that are closer to fiction than actual serious Biblical or historical scholarship.

The interaction between Stroop, Du Mez, and Bar had the atmosphere of a touchy-feely therapy session, as Stroop fawned over the attention and empathy of the leftist authors, and Du Mez and Barr relished the fact that someone who writes for a leftist rag gave Du Mez a positive review. Things took an interesting turn when Beth Allison Barr made a statement about agreeing to disagree:

You can disagree with life choices made by other people; you can disagree with their theology; you can disagree with their political alignment; you can disagree with their endorsement of a book.

Triggered by the possibility that someone could disagree with a man’s decision to change his name and play dress-up as a girl, the tolerant patriarchy smashing tranny went off on Barr.

After receiving the criticism of Stroop, Barr apologized profusely for asserting the idea that people could possibly disagree. In what may now be one of the most ironic posts in the leftist “Christian” realm of the Twittersphere of 2022, a rabidly anti-patriarchy leftist woman who claims to be a Christian submitted to a white biological male tranny who pulled the tranny-trauma trump card. Beth Allison Barr lives for intersectionality, pushing ideology that aligns with Critical theory of every form. In her interaction with Stroop, Barr discovered that when it comes to the intersectional twitter Olympics, no one trumps a tranny. Those who live by intersectionality will die by intersectionality.

Editor’s Note. This is a guest post by Paul Brown, written for Protestia

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‘Jesus and John Wayne’ Cover Endorsement is from Trans Exvangelical Activist

We’ve written a bit about Kristen Kobes Du Mez’s ‘Jesus and John Wayne’ book before. Du Mez is a rising star in certain more progressive circles and usually is mentioned in the one-two punch alongside Jemar Tisby and his Color of Compromise (never forget, that Tisby literally went to work for Ibram X Kendi) as books shaping the modern-day evangelical discourse. On account of this book she gained multiple accolades and much praise from #BigEva elites, who celebrate and laud her for her keen insights into the nuances of the Christian faith, despite the fact that, among her many other vexatious idiosyncracies, she is LGBTQ affirming.

Yesterday on Twitter Phillip Derrida pointed out another interesting factoid about this book, which is the selling endorsement plastered right on the front cover of the recent reissue of the book: Chrissy Stroop of the Boston Globe, who writes that this is “the book America needs right now.“*

But who is this endorser, and why would they think America needs this book?

Chrissy Stroop’s real name/ birth name is Chris. He is a man who is elbows deep into the process of “transitioning into a woman” after coming out three years ago. He’s an out-and-out pagan who is the creator of the viral hashtags #EmptyThePews, #ChristianAltFacts, and #ExposeChristianSchools, as well and author of the book “Empty the Pews” which celebrates stories of evangelicals leaving the faith and the church.

Prominent in the ‘exvie’ movement, nearly every post or article he writes is in some way critical of Christianity and the scriptures, and the culmination of his life at this post involves warring against the church and seeking to dissuade people from believing what it contains.

He is the one featured prominently on the cover as the primary, selling endorser.

Now ask yourself why that is, why he would want everyone to read this book.

Editor’s Note. Here is the full review, and here is the fuller quote in context:

“It is impossible to do justice to the richness of “Jesus and John Wayne” in a short review, but one of the key points the book stresses is that as Christian nationalists, the vast majority of white evangelicals believe that our country’s flourishing depends on aggressive male leadership. The pervasive abusive patterns of white evangelical subculture replicate themselves on a large social scale in the Christian Right’s politics. Since understanding this will be crucial if Americans are to have a functional democratic future, “Jesus and John Wayne” is a book that America needs now. I hope it will be widely read.”

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‘Jesus and John Wayne’ Author Announces She Is LGBTQ Affirming + Why This Makes Us the Rolex of Discernment Blogs

Gather round all ye children of the light and let us tell you a story. Yesterday, Kristen Kobes Du Mez, Author of ‘Jesus and John Wayne’ got into a bit of a verbal scrap with Denny Burk over her views on homosexuality, gender, and LGBTQ.

Du Mez is a rising star in certain more progressive circles and usually is mentioned in the one-two punch alongside Jemar Tisby and his Color of Compromise (never forget, that Tisby literally went to work for Ibram X Kendi) as books shaping the modern-day evangelical discourse. She appeared on the podcast Birds of a Feather where Aimee Byrd (Formerly of Carl Trueman’s The Mortification of Spin) and Michael Bird engaged Du Mez, Beth Allison Barr, and Devi Abraham about evangelicals and gender. Burk was mentioned in the podcast and was tagged on Twitter, and responded to another claim that CRT is a threat to the gospel.

When pressed, he gave this spicy quote from the book as being highly problematic and then notes

“Despite evangelicals’ frequent claims that the Bible is the source of their social and political commitments, evangelicalism must be seen as a cultural and political movement rather than a community chiefly defined by its theology. Evangelical views on any given issue are facets of this larger cultural identity, and no number of Bible verses will dislodge the greater truths at the heart of it” (pp. 297-98).

Rather than respond “yes” or “no” and despite ragging on him earlier for taking too long to respond to, she tweeted that she was out shopping at IKEA, and that she “Will get back to this when I can.” 12 hours later she has emerged with an article where she very much comes out in support of LGBTQisms, writing:

“Do I personally affirm “the church’s teaching that homosexuality is sinful?” Which church? My own church (local & denomination) is actively reexamining this issue in light of tradition, interpretation, history, & science. I’m participating, but as a historian, not a theologian.

I grew up holding the “traditional” view, that same-sex sexual relationships were sinful. As far back as I can remember, though, I never believed that a theological view on this matter should dictate government policy in a way that abridges fundamental civil rights.

This wasn’t because I was currying favor with progressives. I didn’t know many back then. My own strand of Reformed thinking comes w/ a deep respect for pluralism & rejection of Christian nationalism. (Esp among my Dutch profs who’d endured Nazi occupation.)

Since that time, I’ve encountered compelling theological & historical arguments that challenge or complicate traditional approaches to this issue. I’ve read several but have several more to read, and am doing so in conversation w/ “traditional” perspectives.

I’m doing this all in community, w/ scholars, pastors, theologians, & LGBTQ+ Chrs, as part of my local church, as part of an officially sanctioned denominational process, and in an official capacity as a representative of my university.”

And:

“So, how do I treat “homosexuality” in J&JW? The fact that there’s a strong historical/theological tradition of Chrs denouncing same-sex relationships (there are also intriguing counterexamples) does not in & of itself explain Anita Bryant, anti-ERA, or seeing the “homosexual menace” as a threat to America.

It’s possible to hold “traditional” views on sexuality but hold them very differently. It’s possible to believe in male headship but refuse to link masculine “protection” to American militarism. It’s possible hold evangelical theological views but denounce Christian nationalism.”

Lastly

So back to theology. Burk points to I Cor 15:1-5 as the heart of the gospel. Agreed! So much so that I refuse to use views on gender, sexuality, atonement theory, baptism, spiritual gifts and the like as a way to preemptively exclude believers from fellowship in the Body of Christ.

We can spend our lives asking what right belief & obedient discipleship looks like in all these areas, & we should. But I’m going to do so in conversation & communion with my LGBTQ sisters & brothers in Christ. Because of the gospel.

Now, a lesser discernment ministry would hold back. They would look at what she wrote and say that we have to take a cautious and *nuanced approach* to this. That nowhere did she say that she is affirming LGBTQ, only that her church and denomination is reexamining the issues, that she has encountered new theologies that ‘complicate traditional approaches to this issue’ but is in conversation about them, because unconventional views can be held traditionally in some way.

Sure she did not answer the question directly, and instead only wrote 1200 words on how she is considering what she believes. Still, given what we know and what she has said, we need to take a wait-and-see approach before we label her anything or assign any position to her, and not be so uncharitable in our rush to judgment.

Us?

She is pro-LGBTQ affirming as the day is long! She crossed that bridge a long time ago. It is so patently obvious that we could have told you this years ago were she on our radar and we were writing about her. Every second sentence in that article is a red flag and tacit admittance, and no one with half a brain could read that and not surmise that she is utterly and completely theologically broken and compromised when it comes to affirming sodomy as acceptable for the Christian. She’s been suckered in by it and has been given over to it. It’s a done deal. She is a wolfette – no doubt about it. While we’re at it- her church is awful and is heading towards a split or apostasy. The minute you start ‘examining the issues’ you are lost.

In a couple of years she’ll come out and say it explicitly, and then it will make news and other discernment ministries will write about it with shock and dismay, like this is something new that hasn’t been known forever. For us, it’ll be another feather in our hat, joining Ravi Zacharias, TGC, Russell Moore, and a host of others as people we called out years before, got beat up about, but were ultimately proven right.