Kristin Kobes Du Mez explores history of white Christian femininity

Historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez has released a new book, ‘Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made’. Following her previous work, ‘Jesus and John Wayne’, which examined the role of rugged masculinity in Christian nationalism, this new volume explores the development of white Christian femininity and its connection to consumer culture.

Du Mez traces the roots of contemporary Christian lifestyle brands and social media aesthetics back to the late nineteenth-century New Thought movement. She examines how the intersection of various religious traditions—including Mormonism and holiness evangelicalism—contributed to the rise of prosperity theology and the ‘gospel of positive thinking’.

The book analyzes how religious and secular spheres merged through consumerism, involving brands such as Hobby Lobby, Altar’d State, and various multi-level marketing companies. Du Mez argues that while these cultural markers may appear trivial, they reflect a complex history of theological exclusion and the creation of a distinct brand of Christianity centered on domesticity and specific feminine ideals.