Ministry and money: my new read

So, I saw a reference tos James Hudnut-Beumler’s In Pursuit of the Almighty’s Dollar: A History of Money and American Protestantism (2007, University of North Carolina Press)  and was interested, so ordered a copy. It arrived yesterday, and began reading. The reasons that interested me might apply to you, too.

  1. The money we raise and spend on churches is really important, but we don’t give it due consideration. (But it’s much better than it was a generation ago.)
  2. The eighteenth- and nineteenth-century transition to the voluntary support of the church affected Unitarians and Universalists, but in very different ways.
  3. Traces of what we expect from a church persist from those days.
  4. And because our funding models do change, it’s a reminder not to apply sacred weight to something like the offering.

I look forward to the read.

2 Replies to “Ministry and money: my new read”

  1. I look forward to reading this. I’ve just finished rereading a 1978 book by Kit and Frederica Konolige: THE POWER OF THEIR GLORY; AMERICA’S RULING CLASS, THE EPISCOPALIANS.

    John

  2. And it was worth it, both for the history of raising funds — nearly all of which should sound familiar to any engaged church person, Unitarian Universalists especially included.

    The chapter on the minister’s wife — and by extension household and husbands — is heartbreaking and true.

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