Dobson unified evangelicals across denominational lines by avoiding theology and stressing daily-life devotion

Evidence

Dobson was careful, too, not to appear to usurp the role of local churches. Instead, he worked alongside them, offering weekly bulletin inserts, video series, and other resources for churches to distribute to their members. Pastors and elders, rural and suburban housewives, all became part of the larger Focus family. Fine doctrinal differences that may have separated Nazarene from Southern Baptist, evangelical from fundamentalist, made little difference when it came to Dobson’s growing empire. The organization avoided divisive theological issues, and tuning in required no conversion experience, statement of faith, or claims of exclusivity. Evangelicals of all stripes turned to Dobson for advice, as did mainline Protestants and Catholics. (For Catholics looking for practical advice on Christian parenting, celibate priests only had so much to offer.) Dobson also reached nonchurchgoers, including “believers but not belongers” who eschewed formal institutional affiliation. For those who believed that Christianity meant being in relationship with Jesus, church attendance wasn’t necessarily the primary marker of religious devotion. Incorporating one’s beliefs into one’s daily activities could be a more authentic expression of one’s faith. For all its religious diversity, however, Dobson’s audience remained predominantly white. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 196

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Connects to the reader’s critique of Du Mez’s dominant-strand method: ‘fine doctrinal differences… made little difference’ shows how the audience was constructed by consumption, not doctrine — but also that it included Catholics and nonchurchgoers, complicating the claim that this equals ‘white evangelicalism.’