God and Money

Can you serve both God and money? American Christians have wrestled with this question for centuries.

God and Money: American Christians and the Battle Against Greed traces the complex relationship between Christianity and economics in America from 1639 to the present. From slave-owning nuns to socialist bishops, from Mormon cattle ranches to megachurch millions, this book reveals that American Christianity’s relationship with money has always been both complicated and fascinating.

Drawing on her expertise in history and religion, award-winning author Colleen McDannell illuminates American Christians’ varying attempts to integrate faith and commerce. She shows how some believers fought against economic injustice on moral grounds. Others tried to purify wealth through charitable giving, or celebrated material prosperity as evidence of God’s favor. Still others sought to justify slavery by promising salvation in exchange for stolen labor.

In examining these varied expressions of faith within the context of capitalism, McDannell goes beyond familiar accounts of white Protestant men to recover lesser-known stories of women, Black Americans, and Catholics. She also explores utopian alternatives to capitalism, including Latter-day Saint communalism, the Oneida Community’s biblical economics, and Amish simplicity. 

Engaging and deeply informative, God and Money: American Christians and the Battle Against Greed is essential reading for history enthusiasts and anyone interested in the uniquely American intersection of faith and finance.