In Pursuit of the Almighty's Dollar
A History of Money and American Protestantism
James Hudnut-Beumler
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 03/2007
Pages: 288
Subject: Religion
| University of North Carolina
Print ISBN: 9.78E+12
eBook ISBN: 9780807883044
DESCRIPTION
After the constitutional separation of church and state was put in force, Hudnut-Beumler explains, clergy salaries had to be collected exclusively from the congregation without recourse to public funds. In adapting to this change, Protestants forged a new model that came to be followed in one way or another by virtually all religious organizations in the country. Clergy repeatedly invoked God, ecclesiastical tradition, and scriptural evidence to promote giving to the churches they served.
Hudnut-Beumler contends that paying for earthly good works done in the name of God has proved highly compatible with American ideas of enterprise, materialism, and individualism. The financial choices Protestants have made throughout history--how money was given, expended, or even withheld--have reflected changing conceptions of what the religious enterprise is all about. Hudnut-Beumler tells that story for the first time.
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