"I have a gun and I know how to use it": A phenomenology of handgun ownership by evangelical Christians. (August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rosell, Tarris
• Is Part Of: Review and expositor. Volume 117:Number 3(2020:Aug.)
• Page Start: 384
• Page End: 391
• Publication Date: 2020-08
• Subjects: concealed carry -- fear -- Frontier Justice -- idolatry -- narcissism -- Second Amendment; Baptists -- Periodicals; Theology -- Periodicals; 286
• DOI: 10.1177/0034637320949948
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0034-6373

Abstract

American gun culture pervades American evangelicalism. Field research of this phenomenon utilizes phenomenological methods, involving online and onsite visits to Frontier Justice, a Kansas City-based gun store and boutique with evangelical Christian owners. Additional research entails concealed-carry gun training and interviews and email correspondence with Christian handgun owners, including the pastor of a church with armed security. Research culminates with the purchase of a used handgun for specified purposes. Theological ethics reflection controversially correlates the phenomenon of dutiful or fanatical evangelical gun ownership with fear, idolatry, and narcissism.