Lexington Books
Pages: 260
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9½
978-1-4985-3924-1 • Hardback • December 2016 • $136.00 • (£105.00)
978-1-4985-3925-8 • eBook • December 2016 • $129.00 • (£99.00)
Kevin Schmiesing is a research fellow at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty.
Chapter 1 “Heretic Merchants,” “Pedlars in Divinity,” and Other Colonial Characters
Chapter 2 The “Black Regiment,” “Boston Men,” and Other Revolutionary Characters
Chapter 3 “Too Little Help from the Pulpit”: Clergy and Businesspeople in the Antebellum Era
Chapter 4 The “Gospel of Christ” and the “Gospel of Wealth” in the Gilded Age
Chapter 5 Jesus as Salesman, Socialist, Savior: Christianity and Business in the Progressive Era
Chapter 6 “Honored but Ill-Defined”: Christianity and Business in Depression, War, and Beyond
Chapter 7 From Segregation to Social Responsibility: 1960–2010
The perennial debate between Christianity and commerce needs to be put into historical perspective. Schmiesing is the first writer to do so within the American context. His presentation is not only insightful but nuanced because of his methodology, the stories he relates. Hopefully, this will become a trend in the future scholarship on this subject.
— Nicholas Capaldi, Chair in Business Ethics, Loyola University of New Orleans
This book provides a fascinating and briskly written survey of the engagement of commerce and religion in America from colonial times to the modern era. In doing so, it complements numerous histories of business or religion with a perspective that reveals the abiding concern that each had for the other. Anyone interested in how business can be faithful or how faith can be practical will certainly benefit from the fine and careful treatment offered in Merchants and Ministers.
— Robert Kennedy, University of St. Thomas