Presenting my It Has to Be Read. selection for the month of May, 2025, Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood by Rev. Angela Denker
I started listening thinking this might be another polite critique of American Christianity’s little racism problem. You know, the kind that asks, “Could we maybe not crucify democracy this election cycle?”
But no—Angela Denker went in.
She names it: White Jesus isn’t just bad theology. He’s a cultural weapon. A weapon handed to scared boys and told, This is your savior. Protect him at all costs—even from the real Jesus.
This episode should be required listening for anyone still confusing Christ with Clint Eastwood.
Because if your Jesus always votes with empire, hoards guns, and calls mercy “weakness”… You’re not following a savior. You’re following a brand.
Interesting that traditional Christianity has been hierarchal possibly because it has been patriarchal. I think females tend to be more right-brained which is more wholistic and inclusive. Males tend to be more left-brained which is more linear and also hierarchal interestingly represented by a cross. Obviously there are exceptions but am observing in a generalized way. Christ modeled a new more balanced male of left and right thinking. For me the symbol of a cross in a circle is representative of Jesus. I also think he had a more evolved frontal lobe that was not binary but could think with more complexity, paradox, and nuance. His kind of balanced evolved male or human is still a threat to hierarchical systems and simplistic traditional thinking. It’s a scary world if one acknowledges that essentially shit happens and reality is complex if faced truthfully.
I started listening thinking this might be another polite critique of American Christianity’s little racism problem. You know, the kind that asks, “Could we maybe not crucify democracy this election cycle?”
But no—Angela Denker went in.
She names it: White Jesus isn’t just bad theology. He’s a cultural weapon. A weapon handed to scared boys and told, This is your savior. Protect him at all costs—even from the real Jesus.
This episode should be required listening for anyone still confusing Christ with Clint Eastwood.
Because if your Jesus always votes with empire, hoards guns, and calls mercy “weakness”… You’re not following a savior. You’re following a brand.
And it’s got blood on it.
Bless this sacred unmasking. —Virgin Monk Boy
Interesting that traditional Christianity has been hierarchal possibly because it has been patriarchal. I think females tend to be more right-brained which is more wholistic and inclusive. Males tend to be more left-brained which is more linear and also hierarchal interestingly represented by a cross. Obviously there are exceptions but am observing in a generalized way. Christ modeled a new more balanced male of left and right thinking. For me the symbol of a cross in a circle is representative of Jesus. I also think he had a more evolved frontal lobe that was not binary but could think with more complexity, paradox, and nuance. His kind of balanced evolved male or human is still a threat to hierarchical systems and simplistic traditional thinking. It’s a scary world if one acknowledges that essentially shit happens and reality is complex if faced truthfully.