20th century
A01=Sarah Ruth Hammond
american businessmen
Author_Sarah Ruth Hammond
Category=NHK
Category=QRM
Category=QRVS2
christian leaders
christianization
civil activism
conservatism
contemporary political landscape
depression
economic history
economics
entrepreneurs
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
evangelical christianity
evangelicalism
forthcoming
money
new deal
professional growth
prosperity gospel
protestant churches
reagan revolution
religion
religious studies
rotarian fundamentalist
service clubs
sociology
wealth
world war ii
Product details
- ISBN 9780226849201
- Weight: 399g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 05 Jun 2026
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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How evangelical businessmen in the 1930s and 1940s joined their religious and business lives.
The evangelical embrace of conservatism is a familiar feature of the contemporary political landscape. What’s less well-known, however, is that the connection predates the Reagan revolution, going all the way back to the Depression and World War II. Evangelical businessmen at the time were quite active in opposing the New Deal—on both theological and economic grounds—and in doing so claimed a place alongside other conservatives in the public sphere. Like previous generations of devout laymen, they self-consciously merged their religious and business lives, financing and organizing evangelical causes with the kind of visionary pragmatism that they practiced in the boardroom.
In God’s Businessmen, Sarah Ruth Hammond explores not only these men’s personal trajectories but also those of the service clubs and other institutions that, like them, believed that businessmen were God’s instrument for the Christianization of the world. Hammond presents a capacious portrait of the relationship between the evangelical business community and the New Deal—and in doing so makes important contributions to American religious history, business history, and the history of the American state.
The evangelical embrace of conservatism is a familiar feature of the contemporary political landscape. What’s less well-known, however, is that the connection predates the Reagan revolution, going all the way back to the Depression and World War II. Evangelical businessmen at the time were quite active in opposing the New Deal—on both theological and economic grounds—and in doing so claimed a place alongside other conservatives in the public sphere. Like previous generations of devout laymen, they self-consciously merged their religious and business lives, financing and organizing evangelical causes with the kind of visionary pragmatism that they practiced in the boardroom.
In God’s Businessmen, Sarah Ruth Hammond explores not only these men’s personal trajectories but also those of the service clubs and other institutions that, like them, believed that businessmen were God’s instrument for the Christianization of the world. Hammond presents a capacious portrait of the relationship between the evangelical business community and the New Deal—and in doing so makes important contributions to American religious history, business history, and the history of the American state.
Sarah Ruth Hammond (1977–2011) received her PhD from Yale University in 2010 and subsequently held a position as visiting assistant professor at the College of William & Mary. Her research focused on American religious history. Darren Dochuk is associate professor of history at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of From Bible Belt to Sunbelt: Plain-Folk Religion, Grassroots Politics, and the Rise of Evangelical Conservatism.
