Tesco
The Blessings of Business
Book

The Blessings of Business

How Corporations Shaped Conservative Christianity

Darren E. Grem
Oxford UP, 2016

Read or listen offline

  • 0.5×
  • 0.75×
  • 1×
  • 1.25×
  • 1.5×
  • 1.75×
1×

Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

Fundamentalist evangelical Christianity surged to prominence from the depths of the Great Depression, as wealthy evangelical Christian businessmen established training centers and networks combining adherence to free-market capitalist principles with “biblical fundamentalism.” With financial support from these businessmen, evangelists built powerful international movements. As professor Darren E. Grem discusses, evangelicals in business practiced and promoted not only old-time religion, but also racial discrimination and gender inequity. They helped the political careers of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Today, evangelicalism remains a force in the business, political and geopolitical sectors. getAbstract recommends this detailed overview to students of US history, politics and business.

Take-Aways

  • The management practices, values and money of wealthy Christian businesspeople influenced the development of evangelical Christianity.
  • Evangelical Christianity’s approach to government policy combines support for the “American way of life” and free enterprise with antagonism to regulation.
  • Wealthy Christian fundamentalist businessman Herbert J. Taylor’s Christian Business Men’s Committee International sought to influence public matters.

About the Author

Darren E. Grem is assistant professor of history and Southern studies at the University of Mississippi.

Comment on this summary or Comenzar discusión