A Catholic Reviews -"In Pursuit of the Almighty’s Dollar: A History of Money and American Protestantism.“

Update- Good Grief I forgot to give t the link to Amy's Post- Go to Big vat o’ Books

I think this sound like such a interesting book. A former Protestant / Baptist I was not aware of this history. I just assume people have been tithing forever.

She reviews In Pursuit of the Almighty’s Dollar: A History of Money and American Protestantism.“ which is by Vanderbilt Divinity Prof James Hudnut.

She starts out:

James Hudnut-Beumler examines the question of how American Protestant churches have supported themselves throughout history. The essential transition point occurred in the early Republic when, one by one, the old Colonial model that had prevailed in most areas - of essentially established churches existing because of community support, was killed and died, and churches had to figure out how to survive financially.
Many issues come into play, but two major themes that weave consistently through the narrative is the development of the concept of tithing and the changes in the understanding of “stewardship.”

Beumierpan points out that tithing, as a Christian practice, was essentially invented and certainly institutionalized by American Protestants. The practice of weekly collections developed very, very slowly and was resisted in many places. Pew rents certainly played an important role in churches, some up to the 20th century, but it was actually not as dominant a means of church financing as we’ve sometimes assumed......

Her review mentions some other fact I was not aware of . As to Catholics and what we can learn she says:

I do think, if there’s anyone out there involved in stewardship, in any Christian denomination, it’s worth it to take a look at this book. So often, we tend to look at the past through those blasted rose-colored glasses, thinking that in the past, Christians were so generous, while today, they’re so cheap. We also tend to look at the models we have for these things - what a church is and how its members should financially support it - as something that just is . Examining and thinking about how and why these models developed, and realizing that the conversations we’re having now and the concerns and frustrations are not at all new, it seems to me, is very important. Especially for Catholics who not only suffer from historical blindness, but from deep Protestant envy when it comes to giving and stewardship.

We certainly have our own history which complicates and informs the question of how and why Catholics give (or don’t), but when I look at the many, many conversations I’ve witnessed about stewardship among Catholics over the past twenty years and the materials that are out there, as we have discovered “stewardship” in its present form, I’ve sensed that a lot of these rather frantic conversations are grounded in a belief that this model of “time talent and treasure” stewardship spirituality is something that we have to do because 1) Protestants do it and 2) It obviously works for Protestants and 3) Protestants have been doing this very successful thing for a very long time and it’s all very Biblical and stuff…are assumptions that are not borne out by history. Their own history.

Let me throw my two cents. Catholic Giving is compared to Protestants in my view is still sort of a scandal to me. We do need to find a model that works whether Catholic, Protestant, or Buddhist I don't care. But she does have a point and it would be good to look at this book. Perhaps we should return to pew rents . But only the PEWS in the back of the Church. I have never understood why Catholisc seem to gravitate toward the back pews. It reaaly looks funny at times. SInce they are so popular lets charge for them :)

Good Read