09/18/2026
The Gospel Coalition review of Kristin DuMez’s excellent book, Live, Laugh, Love shows how ignorant the reviewer was. (Not linked but you can easily find it.)
A student at an SBC seminary getting a masters in biblical counseling, the reviewer is not qualified to write this critique, as evidenced by these quotes in her article:
First she says, “the sweeping accusations don’t match up with what I’ve heard from friends or experienced in the broader evangelical culture". This shows the reviewer values personal anecdotes over the historical evidence and research. Just because a book doesn’t match your own personal experience (n=1) does not mean its conclusions aren’t valid.
She also says, “It’s hard to follow the jump from purity rings and Precious Moments to slaughtering Native Americans and authoritarianism." This sentence shows the reviewer had no business critiquing the book. Anyone who has done a drop of research on purity culture (🙋♀️) knows it is rooted in authoritarianism. Du Mez makes insightful connections between the kitchsy, consumeristic culture of evangelical women, including True Love Waits rings and Precious Moments characters, and patriarchal, authoritarian politics. A chapter in my book, Recovering from Purity Culture, is devoted to the sociopolitical cultural origins of the purity movement (although I am a psychologist not a historian so most of the book is devoting to healing from shame). If the reviewer is baffled by the connections Du Mez draws, she is not the right person to review this book.
This review isn’t surprising given the platform it’s on but could they not find a more qualified reviewer who is comfortable reading and interpreting thick, highly researched, academic work?
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Live Laugh Love by Kristin Kobes Du Mez. Available at https://amzn.to/4AilZYe
