“It was the purpose of God to employ this nation in the glorious work of renovating the earth”. (p. 275) Lyman Beecher (the father of Harriet Beecher Stowe) wrote these words and preached about it for years. Other religious figures linked religion and capitalism. William Lawrence, the Episcopal bishop of Massachusetts, wrote “In the long run, it is only to the man of morality that wealth comes.” (p. 298). Baptist minister Russell Conwell went ever further preaching that 98 out of a 100 of the rich men of America were honest; that was why they were rich (p. 298).
Benjamin M. Friedman’s Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (2020) traces the relationship between various religions and the rise of capitalism in America from the founding of our country to the present day. Friedman deftly shows how religion and money come together over time.
I particularly enjoyed how the ideas of the historical figures in economics were “interpreted” by religious theologians. This explains why Evangelical Christians support free markets which can result in income inequality. Baptist pastor Francis Wayland advocated for free trade because of his religious beliefs in universal harmony.
If you want to learn how religions embraced capitalism, this book holds all the answers. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction — ix
- Economic, Politics, and Religion — 3
- The Road to Adam Smith — 29
- Philosophical Underpinnings — 63
- The Competitive Market Mechanism — 86
- Predestination and Depravity — 109
- Assault on Orthodox Calvinism — 131
- The Calvinist Controversy in Colonial America — 169
- Vision of Human Progress — 197
- Political Economy in the New Republic — 228
- The Clerical Economists — 252
- Competing Gospels — 284
- Economics for Social Improvement — 311
- Conflict and Crisis — 334
- Uniting Religious and Economic Conservatism — 359
- Economics in the Public Conversation — 387
Acknowledgments — 417
Notes — 419
Bibliography — 475
Index — 509
Sounds interesting but I don’t see myself reading this. Boy, Lawrence and Conwell sure got it wrong.
Steve, money changes everything…including preachers’ judgements.
“It is only to the man of morality that wealth comes”?
In what world? Bishop Lawrence, meet Donald Trump. Now run screaming from the room in horror.
This one doesn’t interest me at all, I must say. Once again, Eclectic George takes the crown.
Jeff, I’ve always thought that religion was affected by money and this book certainly proves it.
History is full of people (some sincere, some con men with an eye to the main chance) using/twisting religion to squeeze money out of people’s wallets. I actually had someone tell me that Jesus’s words, “If a man does not work, he will not eat”—taken completely out of context—was the reason she opposed Medicaid/Medicare expansion, the food stamps program, free/reduced school lunches, and single-payer health care. Massive tax breaks to billionaires and corporations still ok, I guess. Sigh.
Deb, I agree with you on the use of religious inclinations for private profit. I was impressed with John D. MacDonald’s ONE MORE SUNDAY which shows in detail how an Evangelical church fleeced their followers.
I don’t know about religion making you rich but according to our increasingly nutty Supreme Court it’ll exempt you from just about any law you happen to disagree with.
Yep! And now states are introducing bills that say doctors do not have to provide medical services to transgendered people if it’s against their religious beliefs.Good grief!
Yeah,, and I don’t need to get a vaccine. It’s against my religious beliefs.
I am still waiting to hear exactly which religion tells you not to get vaccinated. None,
Jeff, I know plenty of people who refuse to get vaccinated. Many of them cite religious reasons, others political reasons. Meanwhile, Western New York Covid-19 numbers are spiking!
Deb, religious exemptions will cause plenty of havoc in medical care!
Snake-handling cults, perhaps, Jeff.
Michael, the Supreme Court opened the floodgates with their Dark Money ruling. Now, it’s easy to buy an Election.
Having gone to a high school with the evangelicals, none of this is a surprise. I wonder if this country’s first citizens hadn’t been Puritans if we’d have a different mindset.
Patti, the Puritans left England for the Netherlands…and were forced out to America. They were not popular.
Yes, but once they were in power, if not sooner, they were counting their profits.
Interesting point, Patti. Today’s evangelicals keep blathering about “religious freedom”, but that’s not their goal. They already have that. Their goal is the freedom to impose their religion on everyone else.
Michael, when a state can stop a transgender teenager from getting treatment that his parents and doctors support, that crosses a line.
George, I just read that in some US states so called “conversion therapy” for young LGBT people can be ordered by the authorities – horrible!
Wolf, there are also “reprogramming” organizations who claim to convert homosexuals to heterosexuals.
Michael, exactly. So the old saying holds:
Religion is the root of all evil!
And in Germany we have a saying:
Und willst Du nicht mein Bruder sein so schlag ich Dir den Schädel ein!
Death to all heretics – and of course witches, LGBT people, scientists …
Maybe I’ve told that story before?
I come from a mixed marriage. My father was a policeman in protestant Danzig (West Prussia), joined Hitler’s army as a sergeant and was sent to Southern Germany where he met a lovely blonde girl – but she was a Catholic …
In Germany there had been the rule: Cuius regio eius religio and in the days before WW2 that was still valid.
In summer 1939 my father “knew” that something was coming so he asked his girlfriend to marry him – but no children.
When the local catholic priest heard this he went to my mother’s mother and told her that would be a sin – but she sent him off!
And in 1942 my father realised that the war was lost and he probably wouldn’t return from the Russian front so my parents were willing to have a souvenir for my mother – that was me.
Even more OT:
My grandmother used to say when asked about her beliefs:
I believe that a pound of good meat makes a good soup …
Wolf, I love your grandmother’s saying!
Bah.
Rick, I was hoping you’d weigh in on this!
I read books on religion, but this one doesn’t look of interest to me. (I can see why it does to you, though, George.)
I just bought three that are sitting here next to my chair. I’ve flipped through all three, but don’t know when I’ll get around to actually reading them. A HISTORY OF THE BIBLE (2019) by John Barton looks to be the densest of them, but really interesting, as it puts the different books in the historical context of when they were written, and how they’ve been variously interpreted over the years. HEAVEN AND HELL [2020) by Bart Ehrman (a favorite writer of mine) is subtitled “A History of the Afterlife,” and studies how what people have believed happens to us after we die has evolved over time — the current Christian beliefs are not taken directly from the Bible. BIBLE BABEL (2010) by Kristin Swenson is the one I’ve read the most of, because anywhere I’ve turned to it has just sucked me in. It just scoots along engaging topic after topic: the original texts and their many translations, quotes that people use to justify their beliefs and actions that don’t mean what they think they mean, creationism, environmentalism, where God is nice to people and where he’s mean…you never know where she’s going next, and she’s really good at talking about all this, it’s extremely readable. She just came out with another, similar book, but I figured I would buy the first one first.
Jeff, I’m going to track down a copy of BIBLE BABEL.
Thank goodness we have stellar examples of righteous people accumulating wealth, like the Clintons and Bidens!
Bob, some religions believe wealth is a gift from God.
Especially evangelism!
Bob, you’ve got that right!