In Pursuit of the Almighty's Dollar: A History of Money and American Protestantism

In Pursuit of the Almighty's Dollar: A History of Money and American Protestantism. By James Hudnut-Beumler. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007. xx, 267 pp. $29.95, ISBN 978-0-8078-3079-6.)

This volume delivers both more and less than its title suggests. In the preface, James Hudnut-Beumler indicates his intention to "look at religious activity through economic lenses" (p. xi)-what he calls the "'if I would truly know a man I would rather look at his checkbook than his diary' school of historical inquiry" (p. xii). The book only partially fulfills that promise. Hudnut-Beumler explains that as his research unfolded "the most striking aspect of the story was the ever-changing but persistent rhetoric by which successive generations of clergy sought to raise the resources to support the ministries of their churches" (p. xiii). Drawing on...