The Blessings of Business: How Corporations Shaped Conservative Christianity

Abstract

in his new book The Blessings of Business: How Corporations Shaped Conservative Christianity artfully composes a chronological narrative of the previously overlooked, largely forgotten, and seemingly unlikely historical relationship between conservative evangelical Christianity and American corporations. The illumination of this overlooked history and development of conservative evangelicalism, Grem contends, reveals that evangelicalism was arguably influenced more in board rooms than from pulpits. Grem's purpose is threefold: First to reveal to the reader how evangelicalism has been influenced historically (both publicly and privately) by prominent businessmen and corporations. Second, he aims to reveal the corporate features and business culture of American Christianity and conservative evangelicalism. Third, he seeks to demonstrate the interconnectedness of conservative evangelicalism with American corporate capitalism. Grem divides his work into two main sections. The first section principally focuses on the first half of the twentieth century, highlighting the role of prominent (although largely forgotten) American businessmen like Herbert Taylor, J. Howard Pew, and R. G. LeTourneau, and their relationship with evangelical leaders such as Billy Graham. The content of this section centers on the influence and financial backing of what Grem labels as evangelical fundamentalism. The financial backing of businessmen during this time period enabled the founding of evangelical academic institutions like Moody Bible Institute, Biola University, Westminster Theological Seminary, and Fuller Theological Seminary.