We are so excited to welcome Kristin Kobes Du Mez back to our Grand Rapids event studio for the launch of her latest book, Live Laugh Love. If you read Jesus and John Wayne, you won’t want to miss this history of white Christian womanhood in the United States.

As you prepare for a fun night, here are a few extra notes to keep in mind:

Tickets:
- Tickets are required for this event.
- You will receive a confirmation email from Humanitix with your ticket immediately after purchasing. If you cannot find this email in your inbox, please check your spam folder and any other email inboxes that you have before reaching out.
- Please note that there are two ticket options:
  - 1 ticket = 2 attendees and includes 1 copy of Live Laugh Love (This option is perfect for friends and couples)
  - 1 ticket = 1 attendee and includes 1 copy of Live Laugh Love (This option is perfect for solo attendees)
Books:
- Attendees will receive their copy of Live Laugh Love when they check in for this event.
- We will also have a selection of Jesus and John Wayne available for purchase.
Seating:
- This event will include a combination of seating and standing. Seating may be limited for the discussion/Q&A portion of this event.
- Attendees with accessibility needs will be guaranteed a seat, otherwise, seating is first-come-first-serve.

We love seeing who is planning to join us! Your RSVP helps us prepare to host you.

About the Book:

"A smart, endlessly interesting exercise in connecting cultural dots to learn how we got here." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

From the New York Times best-selling author of Jesus and John Wayne, a revelatory history of white Christian womanhood in the United States.

In her “paradigm-influencing” (Christianity Today) bestseller Jesus and John Wayne, which has changed how countless Americans understand their faith, historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez showed how evangelicals made Jesus into an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism. Now she uncovers the roots of today’s glittering, Instagram-ready culture of white Christian femininity.

Live Laugh Love explores a world intimately familiar to millions of American women: Christian bookstores and radio, Hallmark movies, multilevel marketing companies, and contemporary lifestyle brands. This consumer culture may seem trivial, but Du Mez demonstrates that it has an unlikely and revealing history that stretches all the way back to the late nineteenth century and the emergence of New Thought, a movement that championed the power of the mind to shape reality. Du Mez shows how this idea drew together disparate traditions, including Mormonism, holiness evangelicalism, and holiness theology’s charismatic offshoots. Usually seen as distinct, these creeds in fact overlapped, and in the process gave rise to prosperity theologies and to the gospel of positive thinking.

But positivity had a dark side. Du Mez introduces us to religious innovators who taught that positive thinking was the secret to spiritual and material success, and reveals how these notions gave rise to a new feminine ideal. As women read prairie fiction; bought and sold Tupperware containers and Mary Kay makeup; shopped at Hobby Lobby, Target, and Altar’d State; and decorated homes with shiplap, they moved freely between the religious and the secular. Marketed as empowering, these products were part of a consumer culture that elevated domesticity and vulnerability while exposing women to systems susceptible to manipulation.

Combining sweeping cultural history with intimate storytelling, Du Mez explains how theological exclusion led women to build their own brand of Christianity, rich in cultural influence if thin in formal doctrine. Ultimately, Live Laugh Love explains how a powerful yet elusive vision of womanhood has shaped lives, families, and politics for more than a century now—and how it has brought us to our reactionary moment.

Not able to join us? Order your copy here: https://schulerbooks.com/book/9781324090977

About the Author:

Kristin Kobes Du Mez is the New York Times bestselling author of Jesus and John Wayne. A professor of history at Calvin University, Senior Democracy Fellow with the Public Religion Research Institute, and frequent media commentator, she writes on the intersection of religion, gender, and politics.

Other Notes:

No Longer Able to Attend?
- If you are no longer able to attend this event, we ask that you refund/cancel your ticket(s) as soon as possible.
- To cancel/refund your order, head to your order confirmation email, click "manage order", then follow the process for refunding/cancelling. This process should take less than two minutes.
- If you choose to "contact host" to refund/cancel your order, you are welcome to do so, just please note that our event coordinator will receive this request, so it may take three to five business days for her to get to your request, depending on how many people reach out.
- Refunds for your ticket are available up to 24 hours before the event.

Contact the host of Live Laugh Love with Kristin Kobes Du Mez