What the Church Needs to Know About the History of White Evangelical Women | Kristin Du Mez
How have you been shaped by the influence of White evangelical women through history, maybe without even realizing it? And what has it cost these women to live such influential lives?
In this episode of Hear Women, Nijay Gupta welcomes Kristin Du Mez, Professor of History at Calvin University. As the bestselling author of Jesus and John Wayne and her newest release, Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made, Du Mez brings her expertise in history, gender, and evangelical culture to a conversation about the complex and often hidden world of Christian women in America.
Together, they follow Du Mez’s Midwest upbringing, her transformative time studying in Germany, and then to her discovery of overlooked women such as Katharine Bushnell and evangelical icons such as Elisabeth Elliot and Amy Grant. She uncovers how women shaped and survived American evangelicalism—through music, fiction, celebrity, and community—and how the pressures and expectations they experienced bolstered their ministries or capsized them. Gupta and Du Mez reflect on power, nostalgia, control, suffering, and hope, while considering the lives of influential evangelical women of the past and present.
You'll discover ways that White Christian women had profound influence on American evangelicalism, both positively and negatively, and emerge with a three-dimensional understanding of women's impact on American Christianity.
This episode highlights the following themes:
- How White Christian women’s experiences are shaped by both subtle and public forces
- Why nostalgia can hide pain, and why history matters for making sense of evangelical culture
- What happened to women who break silence and refuse conformity, such as Jen Hatmaker and Rachel Held Evans
Links from this episode:
- Learn more about Kristin Du Mez and read Live Laugh Love
- Check out Katharine Bushnell’s book God’s Word to Women
- Read the transcript here
- Learn more about Hear Women
- Learn more about your hosts, Dorina Lazo Gilmore-Young, Nijay Gupta, and Tara Beth Leach
- Read Redeemer by Dorina Lazo Gilmore-Young
- Read Tell Her Story by Nijay Gupta
- Read Emboldened by Tara Beth Leach
SPECIAL OFFER | Visit ivpress.com and use the code IVPHEAR40 for 40% off and free US shipping on any IVP resource mentioned in this episode.
SPONSOR | Hear Women is sponsored by Northern Seminary, where thousands of women have been equipped to serve as pastors, practitioners, church planters, and ministry leaders across the globe. Explore your calling and visit seminary.edu to learn more.
Credits:
✅ Producers: Christine Pelliccio Melo, Helen Lee, and Travis Albritton
✅ Research Assistants: Abby Lee and Jazmin Rose
✅ Sound Engineering: Honest Podcasts
✅ Social Media Manager: Makayla Payne
✅ Podcast Art: Kate Lillard
✅ Theme Song: "Organica" by Artax
Disclaimer: The comments, views, and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the host and/or the guests featured on the podcast and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of InterVarsity Press or InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.
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