Overview

American evangelicalism has long walked hand in hand with modern consumer capitalism. Timothy Gloege shows us why, through an engaging story about God and big business at the Moody Bible Institute. Founded in Chicago by shoe-salesman-turned-revivalist Dwight Lyman Moody in 1889, the institute became a center of fundamentalism under the guidance of the innovative promoter and president of Quaker Oats, Henry Crowell. Gloege explores the framework for understanding humanity shared by these business and evangelical leaders, whose perspectives clearly differed from those underlying modern scientific theories. At the core of their """"corporate evangelical"""" framework was a modern individualism understood primarily in terms of economic relations. Conservative evangelicalism and modern business grew symbiotically, transforming the ways that Americans worshipped, worked, and consumed. Gilded Age evangelicals initially understood themselves primarily as new """"Christian workers--employees of God guided by their divine contract, the Bible. But when these ideas were put to revolutionary ends by Populists, corporate evangelicals reimagined themselves as savvy religious consumers and reformulated their beliefs. Their consumer-oriented """"orthodoxy"""" displaced traditional creeds and undermined denominational authority, forever altering the American religious landscape. Guaranteed pure of both liberal theology and Populist excesses, this was a new form of old-time religion not simply compatible with modern consumer capitalism but uniquely dependent on it.

Full Product Details

9781469633435

Table of Contents

Reviews

Offers [insights] on the social and economic contexts that shaped both institutional and personal religious identity since the end of the nineteenth century.-Religious Studies Review A first-rate book that deserves close scholarly attention.-Review and Expositor In this significant, thought-provoking work, Gloege traces the rise of Evangelicalism after the Civil War.-CHOICE Eminently readable and frequently brilliant.-Christianity Today A valuable contribution to the story of the interactions between Protestant evangelicalism and capitalism in the United States.-Journal of American History A significant contribution to the historiographical wrangling over the character of American evangelism.-American Historical Review Gloege, Guaranteed Pure Deftly argued, extensively researched, and with brilliant insight, Guaranteed Pure offers a major contribution to our understanding of American religion.-Church History and Religious Culture May spark a new trend in American religious studies. . . . Add[s] significantly to our understanding and also speak[s] to our present situation.-The Annals of Iowa Draws fascinating connections between business and religion throughout.-Business History Review American church history fans will relish this work.-Library Journal

Offers [insights] on the social and economic contexts that shaped both institutional and personal religious identity since the end of the nineteenth century.-Religious Studies Review A first-rate book that deserves close scholarly attention.-Review and Expositor In this significant, thought-provoking work, Gloege traces the rise of Evangelicalism after the Civil War.-CHOICE Eminently readable and frequently brilliant.-Christianity Today A valuable contribution to the story of the interactions between Protestant evangelicalism and capitalism in the United States.-Journal of American History A significant contribution to the historiographical wrangling over the character of American evangelism.-American Historical Review Gloege, Guaranteed Pure Deftly argued, extensively researched, and with brilliant insight, Guaranteed Pure offers a major contribution to our understanding of American religion.-Church History and Religious Culture May spark a new trend in American religious studies... Add[s] significantly to our understanding and also speak[s] to our present situation.-The Annals of Iowa Draws fascinating connections between business and religion throughout.-Business History Review American church history fans will relish this work.-Library Journal

Author Information

Timothy Gloege (PhD, University of Notre Dame, 2007) is an independent scholar. This is his first book, a highly revised version of his George Marsden-directed dissertation.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available