Max, I love your writing and depth of analysis. I'll be chewing on this paragraph for a long time..."MAGA was formed in the evangelical world where a lack of centralized hierarchy made it easier to create a unifying national political identity. In being so quick to try and shore up nationalistic power with Catholicism, they forgot (or ignored) that the Pope is beyond borders." WHEW.
Thank you so much Laura. That concept comes from so much research into Christian nationalism and I’m indebted to many other writers who taught me about it. A particular name that comes to mind is Kristin Kobes Du Mez (who’s here on Substack!) and her excelllent book that you may know of, “Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation.” In the future I would love more academic work done on the Catholic side of this, but we haven’t seen too much of that yet (although there is a new book on Catholic Fundamentalism I’ve yet to read). Either way, thank you again for your kind comment and here’s hoping Pope Leo can successfully challenge MAGA Catholicism!
Max, I love your writing and depth of analysis. I'll be chewing on this paragraph for a long time..."MAGA was formed in the evangelical world where a lack of centralized hierarchy made it easier to create a unifying national political identity. In being so quick to try and shore up nationalistic power with Catholicism, they forgot (or ignored) that the Pope is beyond borders." WHEW.
Thank you so much Laura. That concept comes from so much research into Christian nationalism and I’m indebted to many other writers who taught me about it. A particular name that comes to mind is Kristin Kobes Du Mez (who’s here on Substack!) and her excelllent book that you may know of, “Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation.” In the future I would love more academic work done on the Catholic side of this, but we haven’t seen too much of that yet (although there is a new book on Catholic Fundamentalism I’ve yet to read). Either way, thank you again for your kind comment and here’s hoping Pope Leo can successfully challenge MAGA Catholicism!
I’ve been meaning to read her book, thanks for the nudge!