Every day of the week in contemporary America (and especially on
Sundays) people raise money for their religious enterprises--for
clergy, educators, buildings, charity, youth-oriented work, and
more. In a fascinating look into the economics of American
Protestantism, James Hudnut-Beumler examines how churches have
raised and spent money from colonial times to the present and
considers what these practices say about both religion and American
culture.
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.