Powers & Principalities

My guest this week is Sarah Posner, author of the book Unholy: Why White Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Donald Trump (Bookshop, Amazon). In her book, Sarah details the intellectual and social connections between the New Right, the Religious Right, and alt-right - and the ways in which white evangelicals provide moral and political cover for the Trump administration. Further, her work indicates the ways in which the Trump administration has rewarded white evangelical support by pursuing policies in line with their interests.

Unholy is an essential text for anyone who hopes to understand that evangelical support for Trump is not an aberration but rather a culmination of decades of work within conservative circles.

Follow Sarah on Twitter @sarahposner.

Follow Blake on Twitter @brchastain, or on Instagram @brchastain_.

Support the show by signing up for a paid subscription to The Post-Evangelical Post. Save 25% using this link.

This episode was produced by Jake Lewis

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/powers--principalities/message

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/powers--principalities/support

Get full access to The Post-Evangelical Post at postevangelicalpost.substack.com/subscribe

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're taking a brief break to allow a little more time for production, but we're ready to take your questions.  Brad Onishi (of Straight White American Jesus) & I will be taking your questions and answering them on the air in an upcoming episode. Submit your questions by Monday October 5th to be considered.

Use the link in the show notes to send a Voice Message in Anchor, or send me a voice memo at [email protected].

If you enjoy the show, please rate & review it on Apple Podcasts, and support the show via Patreon or Substack.

We'll be back next week with an interview with Sarah Posner!

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/powers--principalities/message

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/powers--principalities/support

Get full access to The Post-Evangelical Post at postevangelicalpost.substack.com/subscribe

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest this week is Julie Ingersoll, professor of religious studies at the University of North Florida and author of the book Building God's Kingdom: Inside the World of Christian Reconstruction (Amazon, Bookshop.org). Christian Reconstruction is a movement that can be hard to both explain and identify, but has considerable influence - especially in the realm of Christian education and homeschooling. Julie helps provide context for this movement, and why its social and political goals are anti-democratic and concerning. 

Follow Julie on Twitter @julieingersoll. 

Follow Blake on Twitter @brchastain, or on Instagram @brchastain_

Support the show by signing up for a paid subscription to The Post-Evangelical Post. Save 25% using this link.

This episode was produced by Jake Lewis.

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/powers--principalities/message

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/powers--principalities/support

Get full access to The Post-Evangelical Post at postevangelicalpost.substack.com/subscribe

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guests this week are Sam Perry & Andrew Whitehead, authors of the book Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States (Amazon, Bookshop.org). Perry & Whitehead are sociologists, and have published their data about America's relationship to Christian nationalism. They help define a framework for Christian nationalism, and why it is valuable to distinguish it from white evangelicalism in this context. They also provide four primary ways Americans react to Christian nationalism: Ambassadors, Accommodators, Resisters, and Rejecters. 

You can find their books anywhere books are sold. Use the affiliate links above to help support the show.

Sam Perry is on Twitter @socofthesacred; Andrew Whitehead is on Twitter @ndrewwhitehead.

Follow Blake on Twitter @brchastain, or on Instagram @brchastain_

Support the show by signing up for a paid subscription to The Post-Evangelical Post. Save 25% using this link.

This episode was produced by Jake Lewis.

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/powers--principalities/message

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/powers--principalities/support

Get full access to The Post-Evangelical Post at postevangelicalpost.substack.com/subscribe

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest this week is Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of the new book Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation (Bookshop.org, Amazon). Her book examines the role that cultural ideals of evangelical masculinity have been influenced more by John Wayne than by Jesus of Nazareth. If you've spent time in white evangelical circles, much of this will ring true; if you wonder why evangelicals are drawn to "strong men" like Donald Trump, her work will help explain why. 

By tracking the development of "masculinity" through 20th & 21st century popular evangelical culture, Du Mez helps us understand our present moment better. 

You can learn more about Kristin Kobes Du Mez's work on her website, and be sure to follow her on Twitter. 

Follow Blake on Twitter @brchastain and on Instagram @brchastain_.

Rate and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts! Support the show by subscribing to The Post-Evangelical Post newsletter. Save 25% on a paid subscription with this link!

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/powers--principalities/message

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/powers--principalities/support

Get full access to The Post-Evangelical Post at postevangelicalpost.substack.com/subscribe

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's episode features a conversation with Katherine Stewart. 

Katherine is the author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism (Bookshop.org, Amazon.com).  Her book provides a comprehensive overview of the tactics and strategies Christian nationalists have employed in American politics: teaching false historical narratives about American history (and the history of the Religious Right itself), deteriorating the public education system, lobbying state legislatures, mobilizing religious voters with sophisticated data modeling, and much more.

If you're looking for a primer on how Christian nationalists have been hard at work achieving their objectives for decades--and are making the most of a compliant Trump administration--this book has you covered.

This conversation just scratches the surface of what is covered in her book, and is more timely than ever.

Follow Katherine on Twitter @kathsstewart.

Follow Blake on Twitter @brchastain. Support Blake's work by signing up for a his newsletter, The Post-Evangelical Post. Get 25% off a paid subscription using this link.

You can also listen to this show in its own feed! Just search your podcast app of choice for "Powers & Principalities."

Disclosure: Bookshop & Amazon links above are affiliate links. I may receive a small commission from any purchases - it helps support the show!

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/powers--principalities/message

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/powers--principalities/support

Get full access to The Post-Evangelical Post at postevangelicalpost.substack.com/subscribe

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this very first episode of Powers & Principalities (termed Episode 0, because it acts as a bridge between this show & Exvangelical), I talk with Diana Butler Bass about the early history of fundamentalism in white evangelical Protestant Christianity in America.  The conversation went surprising places, and while I expected to provide a survey-style overview of the development of white evangelicalism, once we got to the Scopes Monkey Trial we ended up talking about cycles of trauma and shame. 

Diana Butler Bass is the author of several books, including Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks (Bookshop.org, Amazon*). She also publishes a weekly newsletter, The Cottage, on Substack. Subscribe here.

Support Blake's work by telling people about this show, following him on Twitter & Instagram, and by subscribing to The Post-Evangelical Post newsletter. 

(*Affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you purchase the book from these links--another great way to support the show!)

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/powers--principalities/message

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/powers--principalities/support

Get full access to The Post-Evangelical Post at postevangelicalpost.substack.com/subscribe

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Blake Chastain, creator of the Exvangelical podcast & the Post-Evangelical Post newsletter, comes a new podcast: Powers & Principalities. 

Where Exvangelical focuses on individual stories, Powers & Principalities will focus on systems and institutions. The first season will focus on white evangelicalism & Christian nationalism. Featuring interviews with authors, academics, and experts whose work has focused on topics like the Religious Right, Christian nationalism, the Christian reconstruction movement, and Trump’s appeal to white evangelicals.

Launching in late August 2020. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Subscribe to The Post-Evangelical Post newsletter and follow Blake on Twitter to keep updated.

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/powers--principalities/message

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/powers--principalities/support

Get full access to The Post-Evangelical Post at postevangelicalpost.substack.com/subscribe

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices