

# Event Details

- **Event Name**: Josiah Hesse + Ryan Warner at The Denver Press Club 
- **Event Start and End Date**: Fri, 16 Jan, 2026 at 06:30 pm
- **Event Description**: This Friday, att the historic Denver Press Club, Ryan Warner will be conducting a live interview for Colorado Matters with local journalist, Josiah Hesse, discussing his new book "On Fire For God: Fear, Shame, Poverty, and the Making of the Christian Right - A Personal History." 

One part Educated, one part rebuttal to Hillbilly Elegy, On Fire for God explores the ways evangelical Christianity has preyed upon its followers while galvanizing them into the political force known today as the Christian right.

“Of all the books I've read about young people devastated by the fundamentalist religion they've grown up with, this one stands out.”­— Frances FitzGerald, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Evangelicals

Exvangelical journalist Josiah Hesse grew up in the stifling working-class town of Mason City, Iowa, raised in the institutions of fundamentalist Christianity: a toxic mixture of schools, ministries, and religious camps that taught creationism, instilled sexual shame, and foretold horrific tales of the rapture. In the churches where he worshipped, pastors siphoned their flocks’ wealth while preaching a doctrine of prosperity. Meanwhile, as economic struggles grew in the community, Hesse's fellow believers lambasted organized labor and shunned the social safety net, becoming an army for God against the evils of progressivism. Only upon escaping Iowa in search of something more would he consider the possibility that the world wasn’t about to end and that he was woefully unprepared for a future he’d never believed would arrive.

Written in vivid prose, On Fire for God is both an unflinching memoir of religious trauma and survival and a stirring examination of the emotional, political, and sociological effects of the Christian right. Returning to his hometown in search of answers about his upbringing and the political forces at work in the region, Hesse calls into question prevailing theories about the disappearing working class that point to opioids, automation, or globalism as the culprits. His story of awakening and escape exposes how conservative Christian con men have, over generations, trapped working-class believers in an isolated bubble of racism, xenophobia, and self-imposed martyrdom, while stripping communities like his of their wealth and self-esteem. In On Fire for God, Hesse plumbs the depths of his own experience to illuminate, with deep feeling and piercing immediacy, what he describes as the socioeconomic tragedy of the American working class.


Josiah Hesse is an author and journalist from Denver, Colorado, whose work has appeared in Vice, Esquire, Politico, and The Guardian.
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/denver/josiah-hesse-ryan-warner-at-the-denver-press-club/200029498718546
- **Event Categories**: workshops, art, literary-art
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 31

## Ticket Details

- **Ticket URL**: http://facebook.com/200029498718546?utm_source=AllEvents.in&utm_medium=event-discovery-platform&utm_campaign=denver-events

## Event venue details

- **city**: Denver
- **state**: CO
- **country**: United States
- **location**: The Denver Press Club
- **lat**: 39.741367979406
- **long**: -104.99335042149
- **full address**: The Denver Press Club, 1330 Glenarm Pl, Denver, CO 80204-2115, United States

## Event Organizer details

- **affiliate_id**: 2
- **organizer**: Josiah Hesse (https://allevents.in/org/josiah-hesse/2598189)

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: banner
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events4/banners/eaa1a4e7a6860dc7f7381072bce8bc399b4ddfc182a196a64e30353b19e3c394-rimg-w1080-h1350-dcf5f1e6-gmir?v=1768417966
- **Alt text**: thumbnail
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events4/banners/26185aab49461222216d6b8561f83ac83d4250a90f4bc9f692b230e49e3ceb50-rimg-w300-h300-dcf5f1e6-gmir?v=1768417966

## FAQs

- **Q**: When is the event happening?
  - **A:** Fri, 16 Jan, 2026 at 06:30 pm
- **Q**: Where is the event happening?
  - **A:** The Denver Press Club, 1330 Glenarm Pl, Denver, CO 80204-2115, United States
- **Q**: Who is organizing the event?
  - **A:** Josiah Hesse
- **Q**: What type of event is this?
  - **A:** workshops, art, literary-art
- **Q**: Where can I find ticket details about Josiah Hesse + Ryan Warner at The Denver Press Club  ?
  - **A:** You can find ticket details about this event on AllEvents.

## Structured Data (JSON-LD)

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