PowellsBooks.Blog
Authors, readers, critics, media − and booksellers.

I don’t watch a lot of TV, but a few years ago, my partner texted me about this show that a friend of his recommended. He said it sounded right up my alley, and did I want to give it a watch?

I looked it up online. It featured John Goodman as the celebrity preacher of a gigantic mega-church and patriarch of a family of Christian preachers, entertainers, and youth ministers. The trailer was packed with rich folks in flashy clothes, car chases, muscle men, and family bickering, all set to a rollicking gospel soundtrack.

The Righteous Gemstones had landed in my living room, and they felt like home. Their characters resonated with me, the music and the accents sounded like my childhood, and the costumes and characters and scenes were impeccably crafted. I was hooked.

The first season aired in 2019. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it wasn’t until 2022 that we got a second season. This week, season three wraps up, and I already can’t wait for season four to air (they just announced last week that it’s happening!). If you’re like me and fell under the spell of this charismatic, evangelical family and their exploits, it already feels like season four is too far away.

Maybe a book (or five?) will help!

Here are a few of my favorite nonfiction titles that might help you get through this long, Gemstone-free drought.

Editor's note: this post was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the TV show that inspired this list wouldn’t exist. You can learn more about the WGA strike here and more about the SAG-AFTRA strike here.

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

What does John Wayne, a movie star known for violently masculine roles, have to do with Jesus Christ and the ideal of Christian activism and faith? Why are many contemporary churches obsessed with the idea of a “manly” Christianity (think Kelvin and Keefe and their God Squad) and why do they abhor the idea of a “wimpy” Christ? Thoroughly researched and thoughtfully written, Jesus and John Wayne covers seventy-five years of American Evangelical history and traces how the church became what it is today, showing us how that obsession with a “manly man” Christ led to the rise of the powerful Religious Right, the popularity of televangelists like Pat Robertson and Jerry Fallwell, and influenced the 2016 election of Donald Trump.

Off the Deep End: Jerry and Becki Falwell and the Collapse of an Evangelical Dynasty

This book was fascinating in the way all good train wrecks are. It’s the personal story of Giancarlo Granda, his disastrous affair with Becki Falwell and her husband Jerry Falwell, Jr., and the unravelling of Falwell Jr.’s reign as president of Liberty University, one of the biggest Christian universities in the world. If you like a story of people in high places behaving badly, this is the book for you.

Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation

I really loved this book. What happens when your family founds a popular and influential, unaffiliated Evangelical Church, raises you within those strict confines, and then you find yourself pulling away from those beliefs once you reach adulthood? John Ward’s story hit a lot of personal notes for me, having been raised in a family of preachers and missionaries and finding myself needing, in adulthood, to find my own path and truth. He tells an engaging story of building a career in journalism, navigating increasing distance with his family through the pandemic and the 2020 elections, and keeping true to his faith throughout.

Celebrities for Jesus

This short book examines celebrity influence on Christian culture, addressing big names such as Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Carl Lentz, and the original celebrity preacher, Billy Graham. Beaty examines the harm done to the church by the cult of celebrity and presents a hopeful vision of returning to a smaller, more powerful faith lived out of the spotlight.

Oral Roberts and the Rise of the Prosperity Gospel

The Prosperity Gospel is a belief held by some Christians that their belief in Christ and monetary donations to Christian causes will result in material wealth during their life on Earth. This fascinating and balanced biography examines the life of one of the earliest celebrity preachers, Oral Roberts, who also sowed the seeds for the prosperity gospel movement, as well as the uniquely Pentecostal “healing ministries,” in which belief in Christ will cause miraculous healing of dire illnesses.