Merchants and Ministers

A History of Businesspeople and Clergy in the United States

By (author) Kevin Schmiesing

Publication date:

14 December 2016

Length of book:

260 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498539241

Two of the most influential forces in American history are business and religion. Merchants and Ministers weaves the two together in a history of the relationship between businesspeople and Christian clergy. From fur traders and missionaries who explored the interior of the continent to Gilded-Age corporate titans and their clerical confidants to black businessmen and their ministerial collaborators in the Civil Rights movement, Merchants and Ministers tells stories of interactions between businesspeople and clergy from the colonial period to the present. It presents a complex picture of this relationship, highlighting both conflict and cooperation between the two groups. By placing anecdotal detail in the context of general developments in commerce and Christianity, Merchants and Ministers traces the contours of American history and illuminates those contours with the personal stories of businesspeople and clergy.

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.