Joelle Kidd, "Jesusland: Stories from the Upside Down World of Christian Pop Culture" (ECW Press, 2025)

Sep 7, 2025

Joelle Kidd, author of "Jesusland: Stories from the Upside Down World of Christian Pop Culture," offers a witty and critical look at evangelical adolescence shaped by early 2000s pop culture. She examines how elements like purity culture and the prosperity gospel intertwine with modern politics. Kidd reflects on her experiences in a Christian school and discusses how media influenced both identity and societal norms. The conversation reveals the deeper implications behind catchy tunes and abstinence quizzes, shedding light on the far-reaching impact of this unique subculture.

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ANECDOTE

Culture Shock Returning To Christian School

Joelle Kidd recounts moving from secular Eastern Europe back into an evangelical Christian school and feeling culture shock.
She describes having to learn a parallel pop culture of Christian music, movies, and celebrities.

INSIGHT

2000s As The Pop-Culture Peak

Kidd identifies the 2000s as the high-water mark when Christian pop culture profitably crossed into mainstream media.
She links that peak to stronger political lobbying and wider cultural influence that persists today.

INSIGHT

Evangelicalism's Media Affinity

Kidd defines evangelicalism as a non-denominational, conversion-focused Christianity that easily adopts pop-cultural forms.
She argues this commercialization makes evangelicalism uniquely tied to media and marketing.

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In Jesusland (ECW Press, 2025) Joelle Kidd uses a blend of cultural criticism, humor, and personal memoir akin to Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror or Grace Perry’s The 2000s Made Me Gay, Kidd writes about her evangelical adolescence through the lens of Christian pop culture of the early 2000s, giving readers a peek into this odd subculture and insight into how evangelicalism’s growing popularity around the turn of the millennium has shaped culture and politics — including today’s far right. An empathetic, funny, and sharply critical collection of essays exploring the Christian pop culture of the 2000s and its influence on today’s politically powerful evangelicalism In 1999, after three years of secular living in Eastern Europe, Kidd moved back to Canada and was enrolled in the strange world of an evangelical Christian school. In Jesusland, Kidd writes about the Christian pop culture that she was suddenly immersed in, from perky girl bands to modest styling tips, and draws connections between this evangelical subculture and the mainstream, a tense yet reciprocal relationship that both disavows the secular while employing its media markers. But none of this was just about catchy songs: every abstinence quiz in a teen magazine was laying the foundation for what would become a conservative Christian movement that threatens women’s healthcare, attacks queer and trans rights, and drives present-day political division. Through nine incisive, honest, and emotional essays, Jesusland exposes the pop cultural machinations of evangelicalism, while giving voice to aughts-era Christian children and teens who are now adults looking back at their time, measuring the length of their skirts, and asking each other if their celebrity crush was Christian enough. With care and generosity, Jesusland shows us how the conservative evangelical movement became the global power it is today by exploring the pop culture that both reflected and shaped an entire generation of young people.

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