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.
- 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.)
- The eighteenth- and nineteenth-century transition to the voluntary support of the church affected Unitarians and Universalists, but in very different ways.
- Traces of what we expect from a church persist from those days.
- 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.
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
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.