More Money, More Ministry: Money and Evangelicals in Recent North American History [Paperback]

Larry Eskridge (Editor), Mark A. Noll (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 23, 2000

More Money, More Ministry explores the role that money has played in the growth of North American evangelicalism over the last 150 years - including its uneasy, sometimes ambivalent place in evangelical consciousness. Experts on the contemporary religious scene discuss how evangelicals have recently thought about, used, and raised money, looking in particular at Christian nonprofit organizations, fund-raising strategies, advertising and consumerism, evangelical higher education, financial scandals, and the connection between money and theology. As engaging to read as it is incisive, More Money, More Ministry provides a provocative view of the relation of finance and faith.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Over the last century and a half, Eskridge and Noll assert in the introduction to this fine collection, evangelical Protestants have displayed at least "two attitudes toward money and its role in believers' lives." Some have depended with such confidence on divine providence that they haven't bothered to save, plan or be otherwise financially prudent; others have embraced the market, believing that God will provide through soaring stocks. These essaysAmost of which were first presented at a 1998 Wheaton College conferenceAexplore both strategies. Many evangelicals, argues Gary Scott Smith in a scintillating look at evangelicals' encounter with corporate capitalism from 1880 to 1930, criticized consumerism and responded to it by advocating "biblical stewardship." Peter Dobkin Hall says that early 20th-century economic transformations contributed as much to the breaking of American Protestants into liberal and conservative camps as, say, the Scopes trial. In "Unpaid Debts," the collection's most creative essay, Ted Ownby asks whether Southern sectarian groups, composed of "people who were self-consciously plain and in many cases relatively poor," offered religiously based critiques of capitalism. The sleeper of the bunch is Robert Burkinshaw's comparison of how Canadians and Americans funded Christian colleges and universities after World War II. (The editors may have been straining too much to get "North" in the subtitle.) This collection fills a gulch in our understanding of American evangelicalism; it should be read by every Christian, and every capitalist. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (October 23, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802847773
• ISBN-13: 978-0802847775
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,994,767 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A long and eye opening read, February 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: More Money, More Ministry: Money and Evangelicals in Recent North American History (Paperback)

I like the works of Mark Noll for a few reasons. The main one is that he makes me stop and think about something I simply take for granted and why I think that way. So, the fallacy "More Money = More Ministry" was shattered as I read through this collection of essays, research papers, and opinions about the link between 20th century evangelism and money. This book is not just about the TBN-type swindlers, nor is it a Hard Copy-like expose on ministries. It often presents opinions and facts and lets the reader decide on their own.