Timothy Gloege

Guaranteed Pure: The Moody Bible Institute, Business, and the Making of Modern Evangelicalism Timothy Gloege

Commendation Quotes: A smart, innovative, and engaging book that will transform what we think we know about American Christian fundamentalism. Not only will this book be important to historians of religion--whether they are interested in evangelicalism, liberal Protestantism, or alternative faiths--but it will also be necessary reading for those working on the evolution of modern business and the growth of consumer capitalism. Beautifully written, thoroughly researched, and carefully argued, "Guaranteed Pure" offers a powerful new interpretation of the origins of American fundamentalism as well as a compelling explanation for the long-term significance of evangelicals' close ties to the free market.--Matthew Avery Sutton, author of American Apocalypse: A History of Modern EvangelicalismMarc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. Review Quotes: American church history fans will relish this work.--"Library Journal"Commendation Quotes: The single most important work on Protestant fundamentalism written in the past decade, Timothy Gloege's learned, far-reaching text is phenomenally researched and beautifully written, providing a Gilded Age history that links powerfully to the present story of American religions. It will inspire debate and admiration.--Kathryn Lofton, author of "Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon"Publisher Marketing: American evangelicalism has long walked hand in hand with modern consumer capitalism. Timothy Gloege shows us why, through an engaging story about God and big business at the Moody Bible Institute. Founded in Chicago by shoe-salesman-turned-revivalist Dwight Lyman Moody in 1889, the institute became a center of fundamentalism under the guidance of the innovative promoter and president of Quaker Oats, Henry Crowell. Gloege explores the framework for understanding humanity shared by these business and evangelical leaders, whose perspectives clearly differed from those underlying modern scientific theories. At the core of their "corporate evangelical" framework was a modern individualism understood primarily in terms of economic relations. Conservative evangelicalism and modern business grew symbiotically, transforming the ways that Americans worshipped, worked, and consumed. Gilded Age evangelicals initially understood themselves primarily as new "Christian workers--employees of God guided by their divine contract, the Bible. But when these ideas were put to revolutionary ends by Populists, corporate evangelicals reimagined themselves as savvy religious consumers and reformulated their beliefs. Their consumer-oriented "orthodoxy" displaced traditional creeds and undermined denominational authority, forever altering the American religious landscape. Guaranteed pure of both liberal theology and Populist excesses, this was a new form of old-time religion not simply compatible with modern consumer capitalism but uniquely dependent on it. Review Citations:

Library Journal 03/01/2015 pg. 92 (EAN 9781469621012, Hardcover)

Contributor Bio:  Gloege, Timothy Timothy Gloege (PhD, University of Notre Dame, 2007) is an independent scholar. This is his first book, a highly revised version of his George Marsden-directed dissertation.