Religious History

Surprisingly little has yet been published on the history of American churches as economic entities. A tantalizing start is James Hudnut-Beumler's Generous Saints: Congregations Rethinking Ethics and Money. Though lacking the endnotes that would make it a more useful resource, Generous Saints provides much-needed perspective on some of the ideas and practices—tithing, stewardship, pledging—that we now take so much for granted that it seems they must date from before the Flood.

Robert Wood Lynn has spoken and written widely on the history of finance in American Protestant churches; unfortunately his work, scattered in articles and speeches, is not yet readily available. Precisely because congregational fundraising is stuck in some rather dated ruts, it will be helpful to open our minds to the wide range of practices that have qualified as Christian (or Jewish) through the centuries.