Suchergebnisse

In this groundbreaking work, Amanda Porterfield looks at the intertwining of commercial and religious forces in the history of incorporation in the US. She focuses on three elements-the revolutionary implications of religious disestablishment, the proliferation of religious organizations, and religious organizations as models of commercial operation.

'Corporate Spirit' describes the development of corporate institutions in the United States and the earlier history of corporate organization from which American institutions emerged. Beginning with the origins of legal incorporation in Roman antiquity, the book traces the development of corporate idealism and its violations in European and American history. It highlights the kinship between churches and commercial entities and the importance of corporate structures for understanding wealth and expansion in both areas.

Americans have long acknowledged a deep connection between evangelical religion and democracy in the early days of the republic. This is a widely accepted narrative that is maintained as a matter of fact and tradition—and in spite of evangelicalism's more authoritarian and reactionary aspects.In Conceived in Doubt, Amanda Porterfield challenges this standard interpretation of evangelicalism's relation to democracy and describes the intertwined relationship between religion and partisan politics that emerged in the formative era of the early republic. In the 1790s, rel

"Americans have long acknowledged a deep connection between evangelical religion and democracy in the early days of the republic. This is a widely accepted narrative that is maintained as a matter of fact and tradition-- and in spite of evangelicalism's more authoritarian and reactionary aspects. In Conceived in Doubt, Amanda Porterfield challenges this standard interpretation of evangelicalism's relation to democracy and describes the intertwined relationship between religion and partisan politics that emerged in the formative era of the early republic. In the 1790s, religious doubt became common in the young republic as the culture shifted from mere skepticism toward darker expressions of suspicion and fear. But by the end of that decade, Porterfield shows, economic instability, disruption of traditional forms of community, rampant ambition, and greed for land worked to undermine heady optimism about American political and religious independence. Evangelicals managed and manipulated doubt, reaching out to disenfranchised citizens as well as to those seeking political influence, blaming religious skeptics for immorality and social distress, and demanding affirmation of biblical authority as the foundation of the new American national identity. As the fledgling nation took shape, evangelicals organized aggressively, exploiting the fissures of partisan politics by offering a coherent hierarchy in which God was king and governance righteous. By laying out this narrative, Porterfield demolishes the idea that evangelical growth in the early republic was the cheerful product of enthusiasm for democracy, and she creates for us a very different narrative of influence and ideals in the young republic"--Provided by publisher.

Religion and corporate organization have developed side-by-side in Western culture, from antiquity to the present day. This Essay begins with the realignment of religion and secularity in seventeenth-century America, then looks to the religious antecedents of corporate organization in ancient Rome and medieval Europe, and then looks forward to the modern history of corporate organization. This Essay describes the long history behind the entanglement of business and religion in the United States today. It also shows how an understanding of both religion and business can be expanded by looking at the economic aspects of religion and the religious aspects of business.

'Religion and American Culture: A Reader' edited by David G. Hackett is reviewed.

Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Chapter I. The Background of the Christian Scholar -- Chapter II. Reason, Revelation, and the Rise of Biblical Criticism -- Chapter III. The Christian Scholar Comes of Age -- Chapter IV. The Knowledge Explosion at Andover -- Chapter V. The Narration of the Creation in Genesis -- Chapter VI. The Breakdown of Moral Philosophy at Andover -- Afterword -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.