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Jesusland: Stories from the Upside Down World of Christian Pop Culture
An empathetic, funny, and sharply critical collection of essays exploring the Christian pop culture of the 2000s and its influence on today’s politically powerful evangelicalism
“Braiding relentless curiosity, sharp argument, and wry comedy, Kidd offers a lucid critique of evangelicalism that is always attentive to, and respectful of, the mysteries of faith. This is cultural criticism at its finest. I’ll read anything Kidd writes.” — Tajja Isen, author of Some of My Best Friends
In 1999, after three years of secular living in Eastern Europe, Joelle Kidd moved back to Canada and was enrolled in the strange world of an evangelical Christian school. Immediately, she found herself in a strange world of upbeat Christan pop music, purity education, and desperately trendy Bible redesigns, trying to make sense of this unfamiliar preteen cultural landscape.
In Jesusland, Joelle writes about the Christian pop culture that she was suddenly immersed in, from perky girl bands to modest styling tips, and draws connections between this evangelical subculture and the mainstream, a tense yet reciprocal relationship that both disavows the secular while employing its media markers. But none of this was just about catchy songs; every abstinence quiz in a teen magazine was laying the foundation for what would become a conservative Christian movement that threatens women’s healthcare, attacks queer and trans rights, and drives present-day political division.
Through nine incisive, honest, and emotional essays, Jesusland exposes the pop cultural machinations of evangelicalism, while giving voice to aughts-era Christian children and teens who are now adults looking back at their time measuring the length of their skirts, and asking each other if their celebrity crush was Christian enough. With care and generosity, Jesusland shows us how the conservative evangelical movement became the global power it is today by exploring the pop culture that both reflected and shaped an entire generation of young people.
“Braiding relentless curiosity, sharp argument, and wry comedy, Kidd offers a lucid critique of evangelicalism that is always attentive to, and respectful of, the mysteries of faith. This is cultural criticism at its finest. I’ll read anything Kidd writes.” — Tajja Isen, author of Some of My Best Friends
In 1999, after three years of secular living in Eastern Europe, Joelle Kidd moved back to Canada and was enrolled in the strange world of an evangelical Christian school. Immediately, she found herself in a strange world of upbeat Christan pop music, purity education, and desperately trendy Bible redesigns, trying to make sense of this unfamiliar preteen cultural landscape.
In Jesusland, Joelle writes about the Christian pop culture that she was suddenly immersed in, from perky girl bands to modest styling tips, and draws connections between this evangelical subculture and the mainstream, a tense yet reciprocal relationship that both disavows the secular while employing its media markers. But none of this was just about catchy songs; every abstinence quiz in a teen magazine was laying the foundation for what would become a conservative Christian movement that threatens women’s healthcare, attacks queer and trans rights, and drives present-day political division.
Through nine incisive, honest, and emotional essays, Jesusland exposes the pop cultural machinations of evangelicalism, while giving voice to aughts-era Christian children and teens who are now adults looking back at their time measuring the length of their skirts, and asking each other if their celebrity crush was Christian enough. With care and generosity, Jesusland shows us how the conservative evangelical movement became the global power it is today by exploring the pop culture that both reflected and shaped an entire generation of young people.
335 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 12, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
February 2, 2025
ARC for review. To be published August 12, 2025.
3.5 stars
The copy on this is that it covers Christian pop culture, specifically as it existed in the early 2000s, but there’s a LOT more than Veggie Tales and DC Talk here, which actually makes the book a bit uneven; some chapters are macro, some are micro. Kidd definitely (I think, she’s younger than me, but it appears there was a lot of stuff and she doesn’t even go into the church youth groups, which are HUGE in church culture…or they were for me and I was brought up a Southern Baptist LONG before there were WWJD bracelets.) could have actually filled a whole book with just the pop culture aspects, which is what I thought this would be, but she goes much, much broader on some topics.
Anyway, Kidd was raised an evangelical Christian and was a teenager in the early 2000s. She had lived a fairly secular life in Eastern Europe til she moved to Canada in 1999 then landed smack in the middle of an evangelical school. Soon she was not only getting used to a new country she was faced with Christian girl bands, modest styling tips and was out of step with the mainstream.
In focusing on different areas of pop culture Kidd wants to be clear that some of these things, like purity balls, we’re not victimless crimes. For example, the abstinence quizzes in the Christian teen magazines lay the foundations for attacks on women’s healthcare, gay and trans rights and they create right wing monsters…welcome to America 2025. And the problem is much worse here than in Canada where a far higher percentage of people describe themselves as evangelicals.
Anyway, the book wasn’t exactly what I expected, and a lot of it I had read before, but I still found it worthwhile. Took me awhile to get through it, though.
3.5 stars
The copy on this is that it covers Christian pop culture, specifically as it existed in the early 2000s, but there’s a LOT more than Veggie Tales and DC Talk here, which actually makes the book a bit uneven; some chapters are macro, some are micro. Kidd definitely (I think, she’s younger than me, but it appears there was a lot of stuff and she doesn’t even go into the church youth groups, which are HUGE in church culture…or they were for me and I was brought up a Southern Baptist LONG before there were WWJD bracelets.) could have actually filled a whole book with just the pop culture aspects, which is what I thought this would be, but she goes much, much broader on some topics.
Anyway, Kidd was raised an evangelical Christian and was a teenager in the early 2000s. She had lived a fairly secular life in Eastern Europe til she moved to Canada in 1999 then landed smack in the middle of an evangelical school. Soon she was not only getting used to a new country she was faced with Christian girl bands, modest styling tips and was out of step with the mainstream.
In focusing on different areas of pop culture Kidd wants to be clear that some of these things, like purity balls, we’re not victimless crimes. For example, the abstinence quizzes in the Christian teen magazines lay the foundations for attacks on women’s healthcare, gay and trans rights and they create right wing monsters…welcome to America 2025. And the problem is much worse here than in Canada where a far higher percentage of people describe themselves as evangelicals.
Anyway, the book wasn’t exactly what I expected, and a lot of it I had read before, but I still found it worthwhile. Took me awhile to get through it, though.
September 29, 2025
Very apt little recounting of how Christianity uses pop culture to latch onto the masses but particularly teens who are searching for identity while also wanting to find things to help them bond with their peers. The devil works hard but evangelicals work harder.
September 11, 2025
Oh the horrors! So good. Thank you Libro.fm for gifting me the ALC (advanced listener copy).
September 3, 2025
Ahhh! Ever feel like a book was written just for you? This book provided so much context and validation to my lived experience in the evangelical church.
not-for-me
August 22, 2025I received a copy from ECW Press (who I adore), knowing this was a bit outside of my usual interests. I did not grow up attached to any form of religion, but learning more about Evangelicals (especially in the Canadian context, which is seldom discussed) seemed interesting enough!
If this were shorter, I'd likely push through it, but given the sheer length of the essays and my lack of attachment to their content, I'm not compelled to read this any further. I am admittedly a bit of an essay snob, but these seem in need of some paring down and editing. Passages stray into repeating the same points or circling in on the thesis before committing to it entirely.
I'm sure this will have a better home in someone else's collection, but I'm glad I gave it a shot.
If this were shorter, I'd likely push through it, but given the sheer length of the essays and my lack of attachment to their content, I'm not compelled to read this any further. I am admittedly a bit of an essay snob, but these seem in need of some paring down and editing. Passages stray into repeating the same points or circling in on the thesis before committing to it entirely.
I'm sure this will have a better home in someone else's collection, but I'm glad I gave it a shot.
August 23, 2025
Brilliant, funny, critical essays about what exactly was going on with Christian pop culture and where it left us now. As a fellow ex-evangelical, Kidd was snarky and soft in all of the places I needed, bringing me to a place of greater certainty in myself. 🧡
September 25, 2025
Wow, what a read. Almost every page felt like 1990s/early 2000’s evangelical nostalgia for me. It was soooo relatable in a heartbreaking, infuriating, (and sometimes beautiful) way. I really appreciate the candle and admission that Christianity has brought lots of anguish, but it also so complicated to completely separate all the warmer memories from the angst. Deconstructing is so complicated, and this book was extremely validating, well-researched, and even brought some laughs through the reminiscing.
December 1, 2025
A must-read for anyone on a quest to understand “how did we get here?” The seeds of capitalists operating under the disguise of fundamentalist evangelicals as a way to encourage people to vote against their own interests started decades ago, but flowered in the first decade of the 2000’s. This explores how “Christian culture” was used in many ways as a Trojan horse to usher in what can only be called fascism as this point. Purity culture, rapture anxiety, and the like are all things that have done great harm on the individual and community level, but they also enable war mongers and their strong men puppets. To demolish a democracy, it’s much easier if people just go along with it, and psychological conditioning in the form of religion is one hell of a drug.
August 20, 2025
The topic of this book is essentially just the topic of my favourite conversations to have with my friends who also grew up religious -- "do you remember THIS fucked up thing we used to do and think was normal???" This book was like catnip to me, and it didn't disappoint.
The memoir aspects of this book are especially compelling. Kidd perfectly encapsulated the experience of growing up steeped in Christian pop culture, from an especially weird standpoint of not quite fitting into said culture, since she was never exactly an evangelical. Her experience so closely mirrors my own that it's almost not funny.
The more nonfiction-esque portions are also quite strong, in my opinion. Her deep-dives into the various niches of christian pop culture are well-researched and straightforwardly presented. Still, if I could identify one issue with this book, it's that I wanted more from most chapters. I've read a lot of books and consumed a lot of commentary on these subjects, so some chapters felt less in-depth than I might have liked. But that would have made for an awfully long book, I suppose.
I am giving it 5 stars, in no small part because I found it sooooo relatable, but also because I think it accomplishes what it set out to do and more. This book doesn't just deliver stories from the upside-down world of pop culture, it thoughtfully reflects on that culture's origins, at times bizarre contents, and it's consequences for the targeted consumers and broader society alike. Highly recommend giving this one a read.
The memoir aspects of this book are especially compelling. Kidd perfectly encapsulated the experience of growing up steeped in Christian pop culture, from an especially weird standpoint of not quite fitting into said culture, since she was never exactly an evangelical. Her experience so closely mirrors my own that it's almost not funny.
The more nonfiction-esque portions are also quite strong, in my opinion. Her deep-dives into the various niches of christian pop culture are well-researched and straightforwardly presented. Still, if I could identify one issue with this book, it's that I wanted more from most chapters. I've read a lot of books and consumed a lot of commentary on these subjects, so some chapters felt less in-depth than I might have liked. But that would have made for an awfully long book, I suppose.
I am giving it 5 stars, in no small part because I found it sooooo relatable, but also because I think it accomplishes what it set out to do and more. This book doesn't just deliver stories from the upside-down world of pop culture, it thoughtfully reflects on that culture's origins, at times bizarre contents, and it's consequences for the targeted consumers and broader society alike. Highly recommend giving this one a read.
September 24, 2025
Came for the nostalgia hit. Stayed for the existential crisis of faith.
September 25, 2025
this didn't completely come together for me, but I am the target demographic (queer millennial who grew up immersed in jesusland) so it was a fun journey down memory lane. I don't know that people who didn't grow up in the christian pop culture soup of that era would be as entertained, but I do think she did a good job of writing a book for the people who completely rejected Christianity as well as those who stayed but rejected those pieces of it -- written from the inside by someone who can identify and name the problems with nuance but that doesn't exclusively dismiss or rage
October 14, 2025
a great analysis of evangelical pop culture, especially children’s and young adult media, and the underlying assumptions and beliefs thereof that make it inseparable from problems like christian nationalism and zionism and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments
August 22, 2025
Thank you Joelle Kidd, ECW Press, and NetGalley for the ARC!
3.5 rounded down.
After picking this up, I soon realized the content was a lot more than I had expected or bargained for. Obviously it's still a deep dive on Christian Pop Culture from the 2000s, but Joelle Kidd doesn't shy away from the cultural commentary and the impact it had on Christianity and wider secular society. The pop culture is really just more like jumping off points to talk about things like Christian Zionism, the rise of toxic masculinity in Christian spaces, and why Christian comedians aren't funny. For this reason, it wasn't necessarily as "fun" as I expected it to be, but it was informative. I only sort of grew up Christian anyway- so the pop culture stuff wouldn't have been that recognizable to me.
For context, I realized as a child that church was boring and god was cruel, so even when I went to church I never listened and would think about what audience members would be hit if god decided to make a light from the ceiling fall on them. I don't know what this says about me, but I could relate to the parts where Kidd was questioning her faith at least.
All of this to say, this book helped me to realize just how many ideas garnered from pop culture can permeate political spaces, despite this apparent separation from church and state (duh). When you pull on these threads, the whole tapestry starts to unravel.
3.5 rounded down.
After picking this up, I soon realized the content was a lot more than I had expected or bargained for. Obviously it's still a deep dive on Christian Pop Culture from the 2000s, but Joelle Kidd doesn't shy away from the cultural commentary and the impact it had on Christianity and wider secular society. The pop culture is really just more like jumping off points to talk about things like Christian Zionism, the rise of toxic masculinity in Christian spaces, and why Christian comedians aren't funny. For this reason, it wasn't necessarily as "fun" as I expected it to be, but it was informative. I only sort of grew up Christian anyway- so the pop culture stuff wouldn't have been that recognizable to me.
For context, I realized as a child that church was boring and god was cruel, so even when I went to church I never listened and would think about what audience members would be hit if god decided to make a light from the ceiling fall on them. I don't know what this says about me, but I could relate to the parts where Kidd was questioning her faith at least.
All of this to say, this book helped me to realize just how many ideas garnered from pop culture can permeate political spaces, despite this apparent separation from church and state (duh). When you pull on these threads, the whole tapestry starts to unravel.
June 23, 2025
This is one of those books you pick up because you absolutely recognize the shit that the author is talking about on the back cover and want to see how someone else took it when they were exposed to it. Turns out this shit is exactly as mildly nightmare fuel-ly as I remembered, and having someone else validate that experience means a lot. If you've ever wondered what growing up in some of the fundie evangelical circles was like in the 00s, pick this up. And if you remember it, pick it up too, because if nothing else you'll get to see that someone else experienced this shit and came out the other side.
August 22, 2025
I really appreciated the fact that this critique of evangelical popular culture was written from an insider's perspective--or, at least, the perspective of someone who was an insider at one point. Too often these kinds of evaluations of the absurdities of Christian pop culture are coming entirely from the outside, and so there's just bad theology and misunderstandings of key terms, and so on. This one definitely gets a few things wrong, too, but there's an innocence to at least some of those mistakes that actually goes towards informing the curious ways that evangelical culture enlightens its young adherents and also overlooks some things. Most of the critiques leveled within the text make a lot of sense, even if really the majority of the book is more descriptive than it is persuasive; the memoir-like elements of the narrative really come to the fore in both prose and structure in a way that sometimes diminishes the historical or cultural incisiveness just a bit. There are often an impressive array of scholarly sources consulted and quoted throughout the book, but sometimes chapters rely too heavily on just a few sources or on sources that aren't scholarly at all (Wikipedia) in a way that subtly undercuts some of the critiques made, simply because the nascent critiques that are there could actually be pushed further and made stronger by just bringing in a few more sources and ideas. Still, an overall interesting read that really asks its readers to think about where they come from and where they stand, and what their own perspectives may have to either offer or owe the weird realm of Christian culture that Kidd so thoroughly describes here.
December 1, 2025
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
I was looking forward to reading this book, and I’m glad to say that it didn’t disappoint. While I wasn’t entrenched in Christian pop culture at a super young age, it was definitely during my formative years in my late teens and throughout my 20s. It’s interesting to read about this pop culture and see how ingrained it was in my life, not realizing how it affected me outside of my small bubble of life. I even found it all the more interesting that the author provided insight regarding the American politics and evangelicalism as a Canadian.
I definitely think this book is more of an observation and commentary, and less about how a lot these aspects made the author feel. She makes some statements about this though, and I think I just wanted a bit more. It sounded like her parents weren’t ultra religious but that Christianity was a good idea with good tenets to follow, so that extended to the author and the school she went to growing up.
I also just can’t help but laugh at myself now that I’m looking back on things. I almost feel like I left the church just before things got “really bad” (however you want to define that), or that I attended a church didn’t shield me too much. (Not saying it still wasn’t traumatic as I look back.)
I was looking forward to reading this book, and I’m glad to say that it didn’t disappoint. While I wasn’t entrenched in Christian pop culture at a super young age, it was definitely during my formative years in my late teens and throughout my 20s. It’s interesting to read about this pop culture and see how ingrained it was in my life, not realizing how it affected me outside of my small bubble of life. I even found it all the more interesting that the author provided insight regarding the American politics and evangelicalism as a Canadian.
I definitely think this book is more of an observation and commentary, and less about how a lot these aspects made the author feel. She makes some statements about this though, and I think I just wanted a bit more. It sounded like her parents weren’t ultra religious but that Christianity was a good idea with good tenets to follow, so that extended to the author and the school she went to growing up.
I also just can’t help but laugh at myself now that I’m looking back on things. I almost feel like I left the church just before things got “really bad” (however you want to define that), or that I attended a church didn’t shield me too much. (Not saying it still wasn’t traumatic as I look back.)
October 12, 2025
“This is what really shook me to my core. What kind of faith was so tenuous that had to be gripped so tightly?”
“And to me, it seems these cultures share a strange kind of imperialism: The will to dominate coupled with an intense sensitivity to attack. Any perceived slight will cause a lashing out. After all, a war necessitates an enemy.”
3.5 stars
This was thoroughly researched and well-written. I felt particularly pulled in by the first few chapters—the book’s exploration of Christianity in media, mixed in with the author’s own experiences, was fascinating. I felt a little lost towards the end of the book but overall, I thought it was engaging and informative.
Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!
“And to me, it seems these cultures share a strange kind of imperialism: The will to dominate coupled with an intense sensitivity to attack. Any perceived slight will cause a lashing out. After all, a war necessitates an enemy.”
3.5 stars
This was thoroughly researched and well-written. I felt particularly pulled in by the first few chapters—the book’s exploration of Christianity in media, mixed in with the author’s own experiences, was fascinating. I felt a little lost towards the end of the book but overall, I thought it was engaging and informative.
Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!
August 28, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley and ECW Press for the ARC of this title.
This one got its claws into me right away by immediately evoking Chris Rice's "The Cartoon Song", and as a survivor of the Weird Evangelical Christian Culture of the 90s/2000s, this was extremely helpful in confirming many of these pop culture things I remember from my childhood/tweendom actually happened and were kind of weird. The book also does a great job of unpacking all of the deconstruction/reflection members of my generation have been doing with these elements, and what they say about the larger culture around them as a whole.
This one got its claws into me right away by immediately evoking Chris Rice's "The Cartoon Song", and as a survivor of the Weird Evangelical Christian Culture of the 90s/2000s, this was extremely helpful in confirming many of these pop culture things I remember from my childhood/tweendom actually happened and were kind of weird. The book also does a great job of unpacking all of the deconstruction/reflection members of my generation have been doing with these elements, and what they say about the larger culture around them as a whole.
January 11, 2026
I unfortunately had to listen to this a few months apart because I didn't listen to it fast enough for my library hold. I looked back on some reviews and was reminded of a few of the personal recollections Kidd shared at the beginning - I especially had a good laugh at the song "Cartoons", although I felt differently than her and loved it when I was younger.
The chapters around the rapture and the Left Behind series was also very interesting to me - for some reason, I don't feel trauma about the teaching of the rapture so I haven't thought about it much in recent year and thinking about it now was both fascinating and disturbing.
The only thing that I felt pulled me out of the book was how many times she quoted other people/books - I've listened to quite a few nonfiction books and never noticed the "quote, end quote" so much.
The chapters around the rapture and the Left Behind series was also very interesting to me - for some reason, I don't feel trauma about the teaching of the rapture so I haven't thought about it much in recent year and thinking about it now was both fascinating and disturbing.
The only thing that I felt pulled me out of the book was how many times she quoted other people/books - I've listened to quite a few nonfiction books and never noticed the "quote, end quote" so much.
September 30, 2025
I cried multiple times reading this. I’ve never felt so seen by a book. It perfectly condensed my experience growing up in the western evangelical microcosm and put words to feelings and experiences that I’m not sure I’ve ever fully processed. I told my husband if he reads this, he can fully understand my childhood haha. Loved it.
December 9, 2025
really enjoyed this even as someone who grew up in a pretty atheist household and doesn’t have much experience with a lot of the deeper aspects of christian pop culture—and it goes So, So deep. fascinating examination behind the messaging of music, books, movies, etc. i especially enjoyed the sections abt the “war on christmas” and the evolution of christian movies.
December 24, 2025
As a millenial, super interesting deep-dive into the Evangelical Christian pop culture that was pushed on us that we didn't see then. It got a bit dry sometimes, but I think a lot of people my age would find it interesting, as well as, scary and relevant to what is going on today.
October 12, 2025
dnf @ 80ish%
didn’t feel like i needed to go on. i get the point.
didn’t feel like i needed to go on. i get the point.
December 26, 2025
This was a good overview of Christian pop culture in the early 2000s. Some parts were a little overdone, but when this book shone it was cathartic.
August 25, 2025
Canadian author Joelle Kidd's first book is a fascinating, unsettling exploration of the evangelical Christian pop culture of the 2000s, and its legacy in religion, politics and society today. Though dense and at times quite academic, it is an excellent book to read if you are hoping to unpick the origins of the religious bent of public life in North America and its inherent peculiarities.
Kidd, whose adolescence spanned the first decade of the 21st century, reflects on how she - like many of her peers in both Canada and the USA - has had to reckon with the fact that the political views and values which she has come to hold in adulthood 'radically clash' with the faith she was raised in. It is refreshing and illuminating to hear someone raised in evangelical Christianity calling out the messages of shame and hatred which have long been packaged in earnest, wholesome-seeming content - whether that be pop music, films, teen magazines or self-help books. Kidd offers a comprehensive interrogation of each of these sources, and makes a strong case for the straight line which can be drawn from evangelical pop culture to the policies of successive Republican federal governments promoting war-mongering, homophobia, xenophobia and Islamophobia and restricting women's rights under the guise of protecting American 'family values'.
After spending part of her childhood in post-Soviet Eastern Europe, Kidd was enrolled at a private Christian school in Winnipeg in the late 90s, and the early part of the book recalls the culture shock she experienced in being transplanted from a largely secular society to an entirely Christian one. This perspective allows her to evaluate the strangeness of Christian pop music, for example, in a way that may not be possible for a commentator who never knew any different. Certainly, as an English person who grew up loosely affiliated with the Church of England, I have never really understood the appeal of Christian music, film or literature when more-respected secular alternatives exist, but Kidd makes it clear that, for children and teenagers whose entire family, social circle and education is bound to their faith, it is only natural to consume this sanctioned culture. Certainly, pop culture makes sense as a natural expression of evangelism - how better to spread the Word to as many people as possible than with catchy music and shiny movies?
Kidd's credentials as a former evangelical Christian lend credibility to her arguments; she is not some prejudiced outsider trying to make trouble, but rather someone who has experienced first-hand the negative impact of this type of religiosity. Significantly, she is careful not to renounce her faith or her experiences of Christianity entirely, which might make her seem more of a disgruntled former devotee with an axe to grind; indeed, she speaks effusively about how she loved being a part of a community and how some of the people she loves most are still part of the evangelical Protestant church. One of the recurring themes of the book is Kidd's struggle to reconcile the teachings of a gentle, generous Jesus with the narrow-minded, hostile Christians she encountered growing up.
And why now? 'Just like the comeback of spaghetti straps and low-rise jeans, the 2020s seem to be cycling back into the same political territory,' Kidd writes of her decision to reflect on a decade that ended fifteen years ago. In a chapter on purity culture and complimentarianism (the idea that women and men have complimentary, God-given roles in the household, those of warriors, protectors and spiritual leaders, and submissive sexual servants respectively), Kidd traces the roots of these movements back to the 'muscular Christianity' of the late nineteenth century, itself a reaction to the expansion of women's rights and the subsequent perceived erosion of male dominance in society. Highlighting the tenets of this movement (manliness, morality, health and patriotism) underscores the relevance of having a conversation about 2000s evangelical Christianity in 2025: there is a clear connection between muscular Christianity over a hundred years ago, through the advent of the megachurch in the early twenty-first century to the politics of Donald Trump and RFK Jr today. It is impossible to untangle evangelical messages from those of the supposedly secular federal government; as Kidd writes, 'Evangelical Christianity is inextricable from American culture.' Evangelicals vote Republican so Republicans have to keep their support through focusing on key 'moral issues' such as abortion rights, marriage equality, prayer in schools and the separation of church and state. From there, issues such as the War on Terror in the early 2000s and the anti-immigrant sentiment of the Trump administration just become additional fronts in an anti-Christian culture war. Unless we reckon with the corrosive influence of evangelical Christianity now, history shows that we are doomed to see its power resurge over and over again.
This chapter unpicks the messages - insidious and overt - which Kidd and other girls of her generation were pelted with from all angles. Even in the secular world, the 2000s were a brutal time to be a young girl. It would have taken an unusually strong sense of self not to internalise the tabloid headlines about Renée Zellweger 'piling on the pounds' to play Bridget Jones or Martine McCutcheon's character's (normal, healthy) weight being used as a punchline multiple times in Love Actually. Then there was the pillorying in the press of young women who dared to date multiple men during their twenties, not to mention the hideous online countdowns to young female celebrities such as the Olsen twins and Hilary Duff turning eighteen and thus becoming 'legal'. It is harrowing to read about the ways in which young Christian girls were instructed
about purity, modesty, and gender compliancy, church leaders, teachers and evangelical authors, filmmakers and musicians cherry picking and deliberately misrepresenting Bible verses to hold women accountable for the sexual urges of men.
Jesusland makes it clear that these people are acutely aware of how to utilise evolving culture and technology to reach their intended audience - from pop music, magazines and message boards in the early aughts to podcasts and social media in the mid-2010s. Their messages are designed to empower young men to adopt an aggressive, authoritarian attitude to church and family and young women to submit to the masculine authority of God, their fathers and their husbands.
In this chapter, Kidd hands the mic to a variety of friends and acquaintances, each of whom has their own experience of purity culture making them feel inherently sinful for having normal biological urges, making them believe that they should have no expectation of sexual pleasure, and denying them the tools to protect themselves from abuse, infection and pregnancy. Though anecdotal, these dozens of accounts are powerful evidence for the author's assertion that she and her peers have been 'deeply, permanently affected - some even broken -' by this culture.
The rest of the book tackles a wide range of topics, including televangelism and prosperity gospel, and the Christian stand-up comedy to alt right pipeline. Each of the nine essays is meticulously researched, thoughtful and incisive, with some chapters incredibly ambitious in their scope. The essays are long, and some could have benefited from some editing to trim down unnecessary detail. Some readers may come to Jesusland expecting a more superficial riff on the author's memories of growing up evangelical and be put off by the depth and ambition of the book, but it is an incredibly observant, enlightening book which has left me with a far greater understanding of the subject.
Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Kidd, whose adolescence spanned the first decade of the 21st century, reflects on how she - like many of her peers in both Canada and the USA - has had to reckon with the fact that the political views and values which she has come to hold in adulthood 'radically clash' with the faith she was raised in. It is refreshing and illuminating to hear someone raised in evangelical Christianity calling out the messages of shame and hatred which have long been packaged in earnest, wholesome-seeming content - whether that be pop music, films, teen magazines or self-help books. Kidd offers a comprehensive interrogation of each of these sources, and makes a strong case for the straight line which can be drawn from evangelical pop culture to the policies of successive Republican federal governments promoting war-mongering, homophobia, xenophobia and Islamophobia and restricting women's rights under the guise of protecting American 'family values'.
After spending part of her childhood in post-Soviet Eastern Europe, Kidd was enrolled at a private Christian school in Winnipeg in the late 90s, and the early part of the book recalls the culture shock she experienced in being transplanted from a largely secular society to an entirely Christian one. This perspective allows her to evaluate the strangeness of Christian pop music, for example, in a way that may not be possible for a commentator who never knew any different. Certainly, as an English person who grew up loosely affiliated with the Church of England, I have never really understood the appeal of Christian music, film or literature when more-respected secular alternatives exist, but Kidd makes it clear that, for children and teenagers whose entire family, social circle and education is bound to their faith, it is only natural to consume this sanctioned culture. Certainly, pop culture makes sense as a natural expression of evangelism - how better to spread the Word to as many people as possible than with catchy music and shiny movies?
Kidd's credentials as a former evangelical Christian lend credibility to her arguments; she is not some prejudiced outsider trying to make trouble, but rather someone who has experienced first-hand the negative impact of this type of religiosity. Significantly, she is careful not to renounce her faith or her experiences of Christianity entirely, which might make her seem more of a disgruntled former devotee with an axe to grind; indeed, she speaks effusively about how she loved being a part of a community and how some of the people she loves most are still part of the evangelical Protestant church. One of the recurring themes of the book is Kidd's struggle to reconcile the teachings of a gentle, generous Jesus with the narrow-minded, hostile Christians she encountered growing up.
And why now? 'Just like the comeback of spaghetti straps and low-rise jeans, the 2020s seem to be cycling back into the same political territory,' Kidd writes of her decision to reflect on a decade that ended fifteen years ago. In a chapter on purity culture and complimentarianism (the idea that women and men have complimentary, God-given roles in the household, those of warriors, protectors and spiritual leaders, and submissive sexual servants respectively), Kidd traces the roots of these movements back to the 'muscular Christianity' of the late nineteenth century, itself a reaction to the expansion of women's rights and the subsequent perceived erosion of male dominance in society. Highlighting the tenets of this movement (manliness, morality, health and patriotism) underscores the relevance of having a conversation about 2000s evangelical Christianity in 2025: there is a clear connection between muscular Christianity over a hundred years ago, through the advent of the megachurch in the early twenty-first century to the politics of Donald Trump and RFK Jr today. It is impossible to untangle evangelical messages from those of the supposedly secular federal government; as Kidd writes, 'Evangelical Christianity is inextricable from American culture.' Evangelicals vote Republican so Republicans have to keep their support through focusing on key 'moral issues' such as abortion rights, marriage equality, prayer in schools and the separation of church and state. From there, issues such as the War on Terror in the early 2000s and the anti-immigrant sentiment of the Trump administration just become additional fronts in an anti-Christian culture war. Unless we reckon with the corrosive influence of evangelical Christianity now, history shows that we are doomed to see its power resurge over and over again.
This chapter unpicks the messages - insidious and overt - which Kidd and other girls of her generation were pelted with from all angles. Even in the secular world, the 2000s were a brutal time to be a young girl. It would have taken an unusually strong sense of self not to internalise the tabloid headlines about Renée Zellweger 'piling on the pounds' to play Bridget Jones or Martine McCutcheon's character's (normal, healthy) weight being used as a punchline multiple times in Love Actually. Then there was the pillorying in the press of young women who dared to date multiple men during their twenties, not to mention the hideous online countdowns to young female celebrities such as the Olsen twins and Hilary Duff turning eighteen and thus becoming 'legal'. It is harrowing to read about the ways in which young Christian girls were instructed
about purity, modesty, and gender compliancy, church leaders, teachers and evangelical authors, filmmakers and musicians cherry picking and deliberately misrepresenting Bible verses to hold women accountable for the sexual urges of men.
Jesusland makes it clear that these people are acutely aware of how to utilise evolving culture and technology to reach their intended audience - from pop music, magazines and message boards in the early aughts to podcasts and social media in the mid-2010s. Their messages are designed to empower young men to adopt an aggressive, authoritarian attitude to church and family and young women to submit to the masculine authority of God, their fathers and their husbands.
In this chapter, Kidd hands the mic to a variety of friends and acquaintances, each of whom has their own experience of purity culture making them feel inherently sinful for having normal biological urges, making them believe that they should have no expectation of sexual pleasure, and denying them the tools to protect themselves from abuse, infection and pregnancy. Though anecdotal, these dozens of accounts are powerful evidence for the author's assertion that she and her peers have been 'deeply, permanently affected - some even broken -' by this culture.
The rest of the book tackles a wide range of topics, including televangelism and prosperity gospel, and the Christian stand-up comedy to alt right pipeline. Each of the nine essays is meticulously researched, thoughtful and incisive, with some chapters incredibly ambitious in their scope. The essays are long, and some could have benefited from some editing to trim down unnecessary detail. Some readers may come to Jesusland expecting a more superficial riff on the author's memories of growing up evangelical and be put off by the depth and ambition of the book, but it is an incredibly observant, enlightening book which has left me with a far greater understanding of the subject.
Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
March 20, 2025
Joelle Kidd's first book, Jesusland, is a personal memoir of her growing-up years. Her engaging account easily pulled me into her world (the pop-evangelical Christian subculture of the 1990 to early 2000's). The book is reminiscent of Kristin Kobes Du Mez's "Jesus and John Wayne," to which Kidd often touches base. The difference is that Du Mez writes as a historian. Kidd writes her experience as a memoir with a journalistic flair. She is returning to the scene of her school-aged experience with evangelical Christianity - trying to make sense of it all. She picks up some of the literature of that time to help her process and reminisce. From Narnia to the Left Behind series to Focus on the Family's Brio Magazines and beyond, she digs through the layers of evangelical culture that left their mark on her adolescence - for better or worse. Having experienced the same culture, albeit as an adult and a Youth Pastor at the time, I nodded my head often while reading. Sometimes I rolled my eyes. Looking back on the popular, commercial Christian culture of the 1990's leaves one wincing. Some of what Kidd's generation experienced in the church culture was done for the right reasons, hoping to inspire faith and discipleship in the next generation. It must be admitted, however, that money and politics played too large a role.
It is fascinating to read Kidd's experience with it all. She is not your typical evangelical kid from that time period, emigrating from Eastern Europe to Canada - and attending Christian school. While the book is a memoir of sorts, it is also a not-so-veiled allegation against evangelicalism. Kidd comes across as one who purports to have outgrown the cringeworthy, damaging errors of her upbringing to discover the Promised Land of left-wing freedom. As if there will not be memoirs written in days to come besmirching what is happening to adolescents in our current moment. Kidd avoids preaching, and leaves the reader to strike the final gavel.
Overall, I enjoyed reading Kidd's perspective. As one who was brought up in the evangelical culture of the 70's and 80's, I have also had to sort through some of the commercial debris of that time. At the bottom of the bathwater, however, there is a baby. I pray for Christian Kidds of the 90's, that they will be able to deconstruct and reconstruct their faith in the genuine Jesus Christ.
Thank you to ECW Press via NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for this review.
It is fascinating to read Kidd's experience with it all. She is not your typical evangelical kid from that time period, emigrating from Eastern Europe to Canada - and attending Christian school. While the book is a memoir of sorts, it is also a not-so-veiled allegation against evangelicalism. Kidd comes across as one who purports to have outgrown the cringeworthy, damaging errors of her upbringing to discover the Promised Land of left-wing freedom. As if there will not be memoirs written in days to come besmirching what is happening to adolescents in our current moment. Kidd avoids preaching, and leaves the reader to strike the final gavel.
Overall, I enjoyed reading Kidd's perspective. As one who was brought up in the evangelical culture of the 70's and 80's, I have also had to sort through some of the commercial debris of that time. At the bottom of the bathwater, however, there is a baby. I pray for Christian Kidds of the 90's, that they will be able to deconstruct and reconstruct their faith in the genuine Jesus Christ.
Thank you to ECW Press via NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for this review.
May 13, 2025
Brilliantly written book about North American Christianity and from the author who grew up in it. American Christians are seen as quite bonkers and you can see it creeping into the UK where there are several variations of Protestantism. The tears, the holding hands, it just screeches American.
I had the (mis)fortune of attending such a service once, my fault, because an ex-NFL player was giving a talk and I just didn’t put the two together despite a word of caution from someone close to me. I believed it was innocent but the minute he said non-believers were all going to hell was the minute I realised I’d lied to myself. He even sang and I wanted to cut my own head off.
You know what makes me really mad? People who have ‘found God’ after living a life of debauchery. You can’t tell me they didn’t have fun for at least a part of it. They’re partied out and people are slagging them off so the next step is ‘the Bible’.
The fame and money hasn’t quite reached American proportions but ‘tithes’ are in operation and quite a lot too. It is such a male dominated movement. The whole thing just reeks of hypocrisy which is well covered in the book. I really enjoyed this read because although it’s widely known (American Christianity) it’s still nice to have my beliefs reaffirmed. Whilst it’s not good to hold grudges, sometimes holding a grudge against the crazy American Christians is rather mood boosting. It makes me feel gleeful.
Great read. Many thanks to NetGalley and EWC Publishing for this ARC!
I had the (mis)fortune of attending such a service once, my fault, because an ex-NFL player was giving a talk and I just didn’t put the two together despite a word of caution from someone close to me. I believed it was innocent but the minute he said non-believers were all going to hell was the minute I realised I’d lied to myself. He even sang and I wanted to cut my own head off.
You know what makes me really mad? People who have ‘found God’ after living a life of debauchery. You can’t tell me they didn’t have fun for at least a part of it. They’re partied out and people are slagging them off so the next step is ‘the Bible’.
The fame and money hasn’t quite reached American proportions but ‘tithes’ are in operation and quite a lot too. It is such a male dominated movement. The whole thing just reeks of hypocrisy which is well covered in the book. I really enjoyed this read because although it’s widely known (American Christianity) it’s still nice to have my beliefs reaffirmed. Whilst it’s not good to hold grudges, sometimes holding a grudge against the crazy American Christians is rather mood boosting. It makes me feel gleeful.
Great read. Many thanks to NetGalley and EWC Publishing for this ARC!
November 1, 2025
From the introduction:
I very much identify with the sentiment that “finding a fellow former [evangelical] peer is a … kind of homecoming.” For me it’s less about shared pop-culture references and more about a certain kind of solidarity; evangelicalism and the (traumatic) process of leaving it played a major role in shaping my life and outlook, and this is most easily understood and empathized with by others who grew up in semi-fundamentalist backgrounds.
That said… my favorite Relient K song—by which I mean the only one I can remember—is their rendition of “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything”. In retrospect the original version seems more entertaining though.
(I maintain that the evangelical movement’s greatest cultural achievement is “The Bunny Song”)
One way Kidd’s experience differed from mine is that she was conflicted about some aspects of evangelicalism from an early age (whereas I was pretty all-in until college). For example, she found creationism unconvincing and was frustrated that it was presented as a package deal with Christianity:
When I did finally start rejecting my old fundamentalist beliefs, I had a similar desire to somehow “hold onto” Christianity, but I could not find a way to do so that felt intellectually honest to me. I sometimes wonder how my life would have been different if I’d grown up in a religious community that emphasized practice rather than belief. Perhaps I’d have been content or even enthusiastic to remain within it. But while such non-dogmatic churches might give their existing members fewer reasons to leave, I think they’re also much less able to give compelling reasons for outsiders to join. Part of evangelicalism’s appeal is the certainty it offers: certainty about how God wants us to live and about how we can get literal eternal life and eternal joy. The theoretical justification for such certainty is the idea that God himself told us all that stuff and we’ve got a written record of it. If you give up on the claim that that written record is 100% trustworthy, you lose your main basis for confidence in the more practically and emotionally important doctrines too. So there’s a powerful incentive to rationalize a belief in biblical inerrancy no matter how difficult it may be to do so.
Anyway, the book is fun and thoughtful and I can probably forgive it for making me look up the song called “Cartoons”.
(Mostly I wanted to include that link because it’s so delightfully goofy, but it’s also a good example of how large the binary division of ‘saved’ and ‘unsaved’ looms in the evangelical mind. According to the form of Christianity I grew up in, whether or not you’re a true believer determines whether you go to heaven or hell forever after death. So it’s understandably seen as the most important fact about any given person. But it’s a little awkward to hold that perspective in your head while also enjoying music, movies, and other media whose authors and/or characters seem to be among the lost. How was young-me supposed to reconcile my emotional investment in Star Trek with the total lack of evidence that anyone aboard the Enterprise had accepted Jesus into their heart as their personal Lord and Savior? Isn’t every drama a bit farcical if the dramatis personae are all destined for eternal damnation later? And if I don’t think about that, aren’t I sort of fantasizing about a world where my religion isn’t true?… I think this cognitive dissonance drives some of the demand for Christian media. It’s only natural that an evangelical with an interest in fantasy novels, for example, might be drawn to ones that incorporate salvation by faith into the magic system.)
(crosspost)
Admittedly, it is a niche topic—but not as niche as one might think. Because just as often, when I reveal the topic of my book, the other person’s eyes go wide. They know exactly what I’m talking about. They, too, can still remember every lyric to their favourite Relient K song, had a subscription to Brio, or rocked a rubber Livestrong bracelet that read Jesus Is King or Live for Him. Like anyone with experience of a niche subculture, finding a fellow former peer is a weird kind of homecoming. I can’t explain to you the ecstatic feeling of singing about talking to tomatoes and having a new friend chime in with the next line. If you know, you know. (p. 9)
I very much identify with the sentiment that “finding a fellow former [evangelical] peer is a … kind of homecoming.” For me it’s less about shared pop-culture references and more about a certain kind of solidarity; evangelicalism and the (traumatic) process of leaving it played a major role in shaping my life and outlook, and this is most easily understood and empathized with by others who grew up in semi-fundamentalist backgrounds.
That said… my favorite Relient K song—by which I mean the only one I can remember—is their rendition of “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything”. In retrospect the original version seems more entertaining though.
(I maintain that the evangelical movement’s greatest cultural achievement is “The Bunny Song”)
One way Kidd’s experience differed from mine is that she was conflicted about some aspects of evangelicalism from an early age (whereas I was pretty all-in until college). For example, she found creationism unconvincing and was frustrated that it was presented as a package deal with Christianity:
I wanted to hold onto my religious belief, and I was annoyed that my school environment was making it difficult. My family, and even the churches we attended, had never seemed to consider an anti-evolution stance fundamental to Christian belief. But at school, it was all a zero-sum proposition. All my internal dispositions, all the intellectual orientations that felt natural to me, seemed to be outlawed, and my religion was suddenly tightly tied to political affiliation, personal opinions, and whether or not I thought certain scientific facts were true. Why did it have to matter? No one’s material circumstances were being affected by the age of Earth, I thought. Couldn’t some of us just think Noah rode a dinosaur and some of us think God did the Big Bang, and we could all shake hands and be done with it? Couldn’t I just be left alone? (p. 184)
When I did finally start rejecting my old fundamentalist beliefs, I had a similar desire to somehow “hold onto” Christianity, but I could not find a way to do so that felt intellectually honest to me. I sometimes wonder how my life would have been different if I’d grown up in a religious community that emphasized practice rather than belief. Perhaps I’d have been content or even enthusiastic to remain within it. But while such non-dogmatic churches might give their existing members fewer reasons to leave, I think they’re also much less able to give compelling reasons for outsiders to join. Part of evangelicalism’s appeal is the certainty it offers: certainty about how God wants us to live and about how we can get literal eternal life and eternal joy. The theoretical justification for such certainty is the idea that God himself told us all that stuff and we’ve got a written record of it. If you give up on the claim that that written record is 100% trustworthy, you lose your main basis for confidence in the more practically and emotionally important doctrines too. So there’s a powerful incentive to rationalize a belief in biblical inerrancy no matter how difficult it may be to do so.
Anyway, the book is fun and thoughtful and I can probably forgive it for making me look up the song called “Cartoons”.
(Mostly I wanted to include that link because it’s so delightfully goofy, but it’s also a good example of how large the binary division of ‘saved’ and ‘unsaved’ looms in the evangelical mind. According to the form of Christianity I grew up in, whether or not you’re a true believer determines whether you go to heaven or hell forever after death. So it’s understandably seen as the most important fact about any given person. But it’s a little awkward to hold that perspective in your head while also enjoying music, movies, and other media whose authors and/or characters seem to be among the lost. How was young-me supposed to reconcile my emotional investment in Star Trek with the total lack of evidence that anyone aboard the Enterprise had accepted Jesus into their heart as their personal Lord and Savior? Isn’t every drama a bit farcical if the dramatis personae are all destined for eternal damnation later? And if I don’t think about that, aren’t I sort of fantasizing about a world where my religion isn’t true?… I think this cognitive dissonance drives some of the demand for Christian media. It’s only natural that an evangelical with an interest in fantasy novels, for example, might be drawn to ones that incorporate salvation by faith into the magic system.)
(crosspost)
January 7, 2026
*Jesusland* R
notes:
A lot of the author's critiques are much needed and frequently I find her putting words to criticisms I have started to have about the Evangelicalism that has so influenced me -- criticisms that have rushed upon me in the past several years.
This book would be better though if she had a better grasp on Bible hermeneutics and historic Christian theology. Her criticisms would be more salient to me if she was able to critique not just from a cultural perspective but also from a theological and Biblical one.
She also seems to possess no appreciation for any kind of missiology. She seems to think that the use of pop cultural forms cannot be truly missional because it was profitable. But both things could be true. Contextualization can be a legitimate and Christ-honoring strategy and also a thing that certain parties profit off of.
Kidd seems to lean so far into the transcendence of God that pop cultural forms of spiritual expression are found to be impossibly too small. Ancient hymns are okay, Christian rock is not. But the old hymns are just as human as a Third Day album. That's a silly argument.
There may be a lot of unexamined anger that is influencing the author, and that's both understandable and well-founded. But I'm not sure that she is totally conscious of how it influences the book.
Kidd really goes off on her martyrdom/persecution section. Again, I welcome the criticism. Christians should be critical of our timeless penchant for hagiographic writing and our tendency to politicize stories of suffering.
But Kidd doesn't seem to be aware that the loudest voices that criticize sensationalized works like Jesus Freaks and Fox's Book of Martyrs are actually coming from within the Church. Moreover, she thinks it is fair to argue that Christian persecution is basically rare and always has been. And she does this without meaningful research to support it. I don't like that. Just quoting some other secondary's conclusion quote isn't the same thing as proving your point.
There is plenty of made up stories of persecution, plenty of sensationalism. We should talk about and expose that. But again her work suffers from just not bringing balance.
She also complains that some persecution stories end in tragedy while others end in a miraculous rescue. She say that this is confusing in terms of what it says about God. No kidding. But you don't need to go outside the Bible for that confusion. Again, she would benefit from a theology course so she could find that Christians are not unfamiliar with the theodicy problem.
Moving into her Creationism chapter she brings a lot of warranted criticism but ultimately can't help but try to criticize fundamental Christian theology such as the doctrine of the imago dei. It's fine, of course, for her to do that, but she isn't qualified. If she wants to write a critique of the fundamentals of historic Christian theology, she's in 1 star territory, simply because she hasn't done the requisite work. I could say the same thing for when she goes too far into examining Church history. I wish she would stick with the premise of the book and examine Christianity and pop culture in the '00s. She's good at that.
Ultimately, I think this book too often serves as a kind of personal apologia for the author who wants us to be okay with the fact that she no longer really believes in Jesus. I suppose that's okay, it's just not the reason why I picked it up.
But I should leave things here. There's a lot of good stuff, plenty of much needed criticism. And a lot of detours.
Kidd's attacks on Donald Miller are kind of the ultimate low for me. I imagine that if I re-read Blue Like Jazz (which I didn't just love to begin with) I would have some issues with it now. I mean it's been like 20 years. We grow. I also have problems with stuff I published 20 years ago. It's okay.
But Kidd just sounds petty and vindictive. Sometimes she seems nearly conscious of it, admitting that Miller was a young Christian doing his best. But she still doesn't like it. She's mad that as a young adult Miller was apologizing for the Crusades instead of homophobic attitudes in the Church. It feels really like someone who is just so angry with Christianity that she will never be pleased by anything. Then for some reason she's mad that Miller writes books about marketing now (really good books btw). Like WTF?
Of course Kidd ends at the end with a chapter critical of end times books and teaching. Of course, again, the criticism is necessary, but it isn't like the Church hasn't has plenty of its own strong criticism for the Left Behind series and Harold Camping. Ultimately, it seems that the author just wants to get to the book of Revelation and basically hammer it. Unfortunately, she has practically zero understanding of the apocalyptic genre in which it was written. She's just out of her depth and wants us to know she doesn't like it or understand it and that no one else should pretend to understand it. Then she starts complaining about CS Lewis's "The Last Battle". I'm not sure why she feels that fits.
I'll give her credit for some at times decent criticism and sometimes competent research, but mostly I would recommend skipping to the "Sources" section and just read the better books from which she has cobbled her book together.
Sorry, I don't like to be harsh. And I am so in favor of criticizing Evangelicalism, especially today. But this fails in so many ways.
notes:
A lot of the author's critiques are much needed and frequently I find her putting words to criticisms I have started to have about the Evangelicalism that has so influenced me -- criticisms that have rushed upon me in the past several years.
This book would be better though if she had a better grasp on Bible hermeneutics and historic Christian theology. Her criticisms would be more salient to me if she was able to critique not just from a cultural perspective but also from a theological and Biblical one.
She also seems to possess no appreciation for any kind of missiology. She seems to think that the use of pop cultural forms cannot be truly missional because it was profitable. But both things could be true. Contextualization can be a legitimate and Christ-honoring strategy and also a thing that certain parties profit off of.
Kidd seems to lean so far into the transcendence of God that pop cultural forms of spiritual expression are found to be impossibly too small. Ancient hymns are okay, Christian rock is not. But the old hymns are just as human as a Third Day album. That's a silly argument.
There may be a lot of unexamined anger that is influencing the author, and that's both understandable and well-founded. But I'm not sure that she is totally conscious of how it influences the book.
Kidd really goes off on her martyrdom/persecution section. Again, I welcome the criticism. Christians should be critical of our timeless penchant for hagiographic writing and our tendency to politicize stories of suffering.
But Kidd doesn't seem to be aware that the loudest voices that criticize sensationalized works like Jesus Freaks and Fox's Book of Martyrs are actually coming from within the Church. Moreover, she thinks it is fair to argue that Christian persecution is basically rare and always has been. And she does this without meaningful research to support it. I don't like that. Just quoting some other secondary's conclusion quote isn't the same thing as proving your point.
There is plenty of made up stories of persecution, plenty of sensationalism. We should talk about and expose that. But again her work suffers from just not bringing balance.
She also complains that some persecution stories end in tragedy while others end in a miraculous rescue. She say that this is confusing in terms of what it says about God. No kidding. But you don't need to go outside the Bible for that confusion. Again, she would benefit from a theology course so she could find that Christians are not unfamiliar with the theodicy problem.
Moving into her Creationism chapter she brings a lot of warranted criticism but ultimately can't help but try to criticize fundamental Christian theology such as the doctrine of the imago dei. It's fine, of course, for her to do that, but she isn't qualified. If she wants to write a critique of the fundamentals of historic Christian theology, she's in 1 star territory, simply because she hasn't done the requisite work. I could say the same thing for when she goes too far into examining Church history. I wish she would stick with the premise of the book and examine Christianity and pop culture in the '00s. She's good at that.
Ultimately, I think this book too often serves as a kind of personal apologia for the author who wants us to be okay with the fact that she no longer really believes in Jesus. I suppose that's okay, it's just not the reason why I picked it up.
But I should leave things here. There's a lot of good stuff, plenty of much needed criticism. And a lot of detours.
Kidd's attacks on Donald Miller are kind of the ultimate low for me. I imagine that if I re-read Blue Like Jazz (which I didn't just love to begin with) I would have some issues with it now. I mean it's been like 20 years. We grow. I also have problems with stuff I published 20 years ago. It's okay.
But Kidd just sounds petty and vindictive. Sometimes she seems nearly conscious of it, admitting that Miller was a young Christian doing his best. But she still doesn't like it. She's mad that as a young adult Miller was apologizing for the Crusades instead of homophobic attitudes in the Church. It feels really like someone who is just so angry with Christianity that she will never be pleased by anything. Then for some reason she's mad that Miller writes books about marketing now (really good books btw). Like WTF?
Of course Kidd ends at the end with a chapter critical of end times books and teaching. Of course, again, the criticism is necessary, but it isn't like the Church hasn't has plenty of its own strong criticism for the Left Behind series and Harold Camping. Ultimately, it seems that the author just wants to get to the book of Revelation and basically hammer it. Unfortunately, she has practically zero understanding of the apocalyptic genre in which it was written. She's just out of her depth and wants us to know she doesn't like it or understand it and that no one else should pretend to understand it. Then she starts complaining about CS Lewis's "The Last Battle". I'm not sure why she feels that fits.
I'll give her credit for some at times decent criticism and sometimes competent research, but mostly I would recommend skipping to the "Sources" section and just read the better books from which she has cobbled her book together.
Sorry, I don't like to be harsh. And I am so in favor of criticizing Evangelicalism, especially today. But this fails in so many ways.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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