tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post6555713225584738093..comments2024-03-26T11:33:59.219-06:00Comments on Religion in American History: Reading List in the History of Religion and Capitalism in the USPaul Harveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13881964303772343114noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-40672788093124708252015-01-01T16:09:02.466-07:002015-01-01T16:09:02.466-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.rjchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12447486006327105309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-22664817340574482122014-12-02T13:58:53.405-07:002014-12-02T13:58:53.405-07:00Thanks for the suggestion, rjc. Heineman's boo...Thanks for the suggestion, rjc. Heineman's book is about labor, and I'm thinking about a chapter from Burns's book on the radical historical Jesus. But I should see what else I can do with labor.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06130738672087808415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-14112345353491682522014-12-02T13:49:36.559-07:002014-12-02T13:49:36.559-07:00Coming very late to this conversation, but I'd...Coming very late to this conversation, but I'd suggest that a course on religion and capitalism needs some studies of labor as well. That essential element of capitalism is conspicuously absent from this discussion.rjchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12447486006327105309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-4984985336481949012014-11-05T09:05:43.115-07:002014-11-05T09:05:43.115-07:00I love this idea for a class! To echo Tom Bremer (...I love this idea for a class! To echo Tom Bremer (and because he's too modest to post it) I'd recommend his Blessed with Tourists. Leisure and tourism are a great way into questions about money/capitalism because students are familiar with them, of course, and often class them as "not" religion. Something on tourism paired with Consumer Rites could work really well.<br /><br />I'd also add something on charitable giving (perhaps along with Mauss on the gift?) -- the 'altruistic other' to counterbalance capitalist profit-making. What about pairing a piece on 19th c charity with John Corrigan's Business of the Heart...?<br /><br />Although it's not religion per se, I also enjoyed teaching Viviana Zelizer's classic Pricing the Priceless Child. It was an easy read (no slogging!) and we had a great discussion about the intersection of religion and moral norms. An "unmarked Protestantism" type debate. Fun stuff! Thanks for getting us thinking about money, Lincoln!hillary kaellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00161021244534896869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-29880427999822632502014-11-03T09:22:25.961-07:002014-11-03T09:22:25.961-07:00Great thread. I wonder about adding a book that w...Great thread. I wonder about adding a book that would explore the labor side? Jarod Roll's Spirit of Rebellion would work very well.Heathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04150802497510920137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-37465057817230414822014-11-02T09:52:21.815-07:002014-11-02T09:52:21.815-07:00I think the Kobrin collection has some great essay...I think the Kobrin collection has some great essays in it, but there are also some monographs to consider. <br /><br />Adam Menselsohn's The Rag Race: How Jews Sewed Their Way to Success in America and the British Empire is coming out in December.<br /><br />Sarah Stein's Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce has one chapter specifically on the US but does a masterful job of connecting ethno-religious networks across the globe. Her intro/conclusion offer some great historiographical jump-offs for thinking about Jews and capitalism.<br /><br />Marni Davis has an essay in the Kobrin volume, but also has a book, Jews and Booze: Becoming American in the Age of Prohibition.<br /><br />On Jews and material/consumer culture, Jenna Joselit's The Wonders of America: Reinventing Jewish Culture, 1880-1950 is a wonderfully rich examination.<br /><br />In thinking about responses to capitalism, Tony Michels' A Fire in Their Hearts: Yiddish Socialists in New York is excellent.<br /><br />For a provocative argument on American Jews and American capitalism, Eli Lederhendler's Jewish Immigrants and American Capitalism, 1880-1920: From Caste to Class is quite useful.ryshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12882440247801628442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-91330773681905907202014-11-02T06:47:42.989-07:002014-11-02T06:47:42.989-07:00Surprised that no one has mentioned Laurence Moore...Surprised that no one has mentioned Laurence Moore, Selling God: American Religion in the Marketplace of Culture. You also may want to include something on religion and tourism with attention to the commodification of religion in tourist economies.Thomas S. Bremerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13161785756995010118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-75905334637353897272014-11-01T21:55:50.576-06:002014-11-01T21:55:50.576-06:003 votes for Giggie. 3 votes for Giggie. esclarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02794977716560232353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-46170419964006242572014-11-01T20:47:57.507-06:002014-11-01T20:47:57.507-06:00Thanks for the suggestions, Christopher. Most of t...Thanks for the suggestions, Christopher. Most of those are new to me. You're not the first person to use the word "slog" to describe Arrington, so maybe I can cobble together a set of alternative readings. I didn't know of enough to make it work, but this helps.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06130738672087808415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-49903020020054376272014-11-01T20:36:19.619-06:002014-11-01T20:36:19.619-06:00This looks great, Lincoln, and like Ed, I'm ta...This looks great, Lincoln, and like Ed, I'm taking notes and adding books to my ever-growing list of things to read. <br /><br />I do feel a bit bad that your students are having to slog through Arrington's (excellent but pretty dry) book.<br /><br />Alternate/additional readings on Mormonism and capitalism include Matt Godfrey's <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Politics-Sugar-Government-Utah-Idaho/dp/0874216583" rel="nofollow">Religion, Politics, and Sugar : The Mormon Church, the Federal Government, and the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1907-1921</a></em> and a handful of more recent articles, including Fritz Umbach, "Learning to Shop in Zion : The Consumer Revolution in Great Basin Mormon Culture, 1847-1910," <em>Journal of Social History</em> 38:1 (2004): 29-61 and Christopher Garret, "The Defense of Deseret : An Examination of LDS Church Trade Politics and Development Efforts in the American West," <em>Utah Historical Quarterly</em> 73:4 (2005): 365-386.Christopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13838699621239633661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-59205868052706038902014-11-01T18:02:35.266-06:002014-11-01T18:02:35.266-06:00Thanks, Ed. That's two votes for Giggie. It wa...Thanks, Ed. That's two votes for Giggie. It was a hard choice between Consuming Faith and Kingdom on Earth. <br /><br />Thanks for the suggestion, Charlie. I liked Levy's book a lot. It's definitely going on the recommended list, but maybe I can add a chapter to the reading list.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06130738672087808415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-2020690159105258772014-11-01T13:27:14.559-06:002014-11-01T13:27:14.559-06:00This looks great, Lincoln. I would very highly rec...This looks great, Lincoln. I would very highly recommend is Jonathan Levy's _Freaks of Fortune_. It's not necessarily a "religious history," but there are lots of discussions of providence, faith, etc. The dissertation it's based on was titled "Ways of Providence." It's a really good book and would likely provoke good discussion about religion topics.Charlie McCraryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07974315175707119170noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-47334619113615067182014-11-01T09:17:08.967-06:002014-11-01T09:17:08.967-06:00I keep pressing #1 on my phone to enroll, but the ...I keep pressing #1 on my phone to enroll, but the system boots me out. Guess I'll have to walk over to the registrar's office :) Thanks for the list. Time for me to get a'readin'. I enjoyed Consuming Faith and Land of Desire as well. Giggie's book (and the edited volume he did) are great too!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-49610400213294941132014-11-01T07:38:10.169-06:002014-11-01T07:38:10.169-06:00Thank you, Judith. I'll take a look at the rea...Thank you, Judith. I'll take a look at the readings you suggested. I'd like to do a week on African American religion and capitalism, and haven't settled on what it will be.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06130738672087808415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-68983405062010657082014-11-01T07:03:47.982-06:002014-11-01T07:03:47.982-06:00This looks like a great course, Lincoln, and I'...This looks like a great course, Lincoln, and I'm excited to see how it develops. <br /><br />Some ideas for African American religious history coverage (to move beyond attending to black people only as property):<br /><br />John Giggie, After Redemption: Jim Crow and the Transformation of African American Religion in the Delta, 1875-1915 (Oxford, 2007) [chapters on commercial life and material culture]<br /><br />Giggie has a few other pieces on religion and business (the black religious press, race records). <br /><br />Lerone Martin's new Preaching on Wax: The Phonograph and the Shaping of Modern African American Religion (NYU 2014) addresses the record industry in the early 20th century. <br /><br />There's a lot of work left to do about black denominations and capitalism.... <br /><br />I think it would be great to include The Black Manifesto and responses to it to think about religious responses to the history of economic exploitation of black people. <br /><br />A few resources:<br /><br /> http://www.episcopalarchives.org/Afro-Anglican_history/exhibit/specialgc/black_manifesto.php <br /><br /><br />Robert S. Lecky and H. Elliott Wright, Black Manifesto: Religion, Racism, and Reparations (1969)<br /><br />Trevor Burroughs contributed a useful post about The Black Manifesto on RiAH this past summer: http://usreligion.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-black-manifesto-in-twentieth.htmlJudith Weisenfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00540184099447580269noreply@blogger.com