About the Author

R. Laurence Moore is Professor of History at Cornell University and author of Religious Outsiders and the Making of Americans.

Reviews

"Moore's work will become the standard for scholars and students who are interested in the historic links between religion and commercial culture in America. Selling God compels us to take a new look at American religion."--Lewis Baldwin, Vanderbilt University
"A fresh look at an ongoing problem which has fed secular confusion about the Church and its mission. Moore nails it!."--Glenn Thomas Carson, Charleston Southern University
"A rather interesting book."--Gerald Michael Schnabel, Bemidji State University
"A most wonderful book!"--Scott Gibson, Gordon-corwell Theological Seminary
"Long overdue, stimulating thinking about secularization in America."--Mike Ascraft, Truman State University
"Moore's work will become the standard for scholars and students who are interested in the historic links between religion and commercial culture in America. Selling God compels us to take a new look at American religion."--Lewis Baldwin, Vanderbilt University
"A fresh look at an ongoing problem which has fed secular confusion about the Church and its mission. Moore nails it!."--Glenn Thomas Carson, Charleston Southern University
"A rather interesting book."--Gerald Michael Schnabel, Bemidji State University
"A most wonderful book!"--Scott Gibson, Gordon-corwell Theological Seminary
"Long overdue, stimulating thinking about secularization in America."--Mike Ascraft, Truman State University
"An interesting, informative, and well-written book with a fresh perspective."--John Carey, Agnes Scott College
"This is a wonderful book, informative, provocative, and entertaining."-Richard Vinson, Averett College
"It raises crucial questions about the prospects for transmitting religious traditions within capitalism. Highy recommended."--Religious Studies Review
"This book is an excellent cultural history of the United States."--Missiology
"If you are interested in the development of American culture or in religion especially religion as an economic entity, Selling God offers a provocative description with implications for the consumer movement. If you are curious about incorporating variables related to religion into your work, Moore's persuasive and complex history models a judicious and effective approach. Finally, if religion's current political power intrigues you, Moore provides
insights into its history, economic strengths, sources of cultural appeal, and motivation."--The Journal of Consumer Affairs
"This book shows that using religion as a tool of advertising -- and advertising as a tool of religion -- is a practice as old as capitalism itself."--he New York Times Book Review New & Noteworthy Paperback
"Only in America was Christianity hawked as a 'bargain.' The astonishing results reach from the 1790s to the 1990s and are splendidly scrutinized in this subtle, discerning, and witty book. A real treat!"--Jon Butler, Yale University
"A lively history--undisparaging, undogmatic, and unabashed--of how religious entrepreneurs have influenced popular culture by packaging pious products that satisfy many buyers."--John Higham, Johns Hopkins University
"Helpful, well researched. Clearly written."--John N. Stewart, Princeton Theological Seminary
"Moore's book makes an important new contribution to the secularization debate by parsing the secularity of religion in our time as its commodification."--Catherine L. Albanese, Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara
"With keen intelligence, gentle wit, and a deep knowledge of U.S. cultural history, R. Laurence Moore explores the way religion has used market strategies, new technologies, and entertainment techniques to maintain its central role in American life. Selling God convincingly shows that the line between the sacred and the secular, in the U.S. context at least, is far hazier than we might like to think."--Paul Boyer, Merle Curti Professor of History
and Director, Institute for Research in the Humanities
"This is an interesting and readable book....This is a book that should be read widely--not because of its contribution to spirituality, but because of its different way of examining the place of evangelical Christianity in society."--Methodist Recorder

"Moore's work will become the standard for scholars and students who are interested in the historic links between religion and commercial culture in America. Selling God compels us to take a new look at American religion."--Lewis Baldwin, Vanderbilt University "A fresh look at an ongoing problem which has fed secular confusion about the Church and its mission. Moore nails it!."--Glenn Thomas Carson, Charleston Southern University "A rather interesting book."--Gerald Michael Schnabel, Bemidji State University "A most wonderful book!"--Scott Gibson, Gordon-corwell Theological Seminary "Long overdue, stimulating thinking about secularization in America."--Mike Ascraft, Truman State University "Moore's work will become the standard for scholars and students who are interested in the historic links between religion and commercial culture in America. Selling God compels us to take a new look at American religion."--Lewis Baldwin, Vanderbilt University "A fresh look at an ongoing problem which has fed secular confusion about the Church and its mission. Moore nails it!."--Glenn Thomas Carson, Charleston Southern University "A rather interesting book."--Gerald Michael Schnabel, Bemidji State University "A most wonderful book!"--Scott Gibson, Gordon-corwell Theological Seminary "Long overdue, stimulating thinking about secularization in America."--Mike Ascraft, Truman State University "An interesting, informative, and well-written book with a fresh perspective."--John Carey, Agnes Scott College "This is a wonderful book, informative, provocative, and entertaining."-Richard Vinson, Averett College "It raises crucial questions about the prospects for transmitting religious traditions within capitalism. Highy recommended."--Religious Studies Review "This book is an excellent cultural history of the United States."--Missiology "If you are interested in the development of American culture or in religion especially religion as an economic entity, Selling God offers a provocative description with implications for the consumer movement. If you are curious about incorporating variables related to religion into your work, Moore's persuasive and complex history models a judicious and effective approach. Finally, if religion's current political power intrigues you, Moore provides insights into its history, economic strengths, sources of cultural appeal, and motivation."--The Journal of Consumer Affairs "This book shows that using religion as a tool of advertising -- and advertising as a tool of religion -- is a practice as old as capitalism itself."--he New York Times Book Review New & Noteworthy Paperback "Only in America was Christianity hawked as a 'bargain.' The astonishing results reach from the 1790s to the 1990s and are splendidly scrutinized in this subtle, discerning, and witty book. A real treat!"--Jon Butler, Yale University "A lively history--undisparaging, undogmatic, and unabashed--of how religious entrepreneurs have influenced popular culture by packaging pious products that satisfy many buyers."--John Higham, Johns Hopkins University "Helpful, well researched. Clearly written."--John N. Stewart, Princeton Theological Seminary "Moore's book makes an important new contribution to the secularization debate by parsing the secularity of religion in our time as its commodification."--Catherine L. Albanese, Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara "With keen intelligence, gentle wit, and a deep knowledge of U.S. cultural history, R. Laurence Moore explores the way religion has used market strategies, new technologies, and entertainment techniques to maintain its central role in American life. Selling God convincingly shows that the line between the sacred and the secular, in the U.S. context at least, is far hazier than we might like to think."--Paul Boyer, Merle Curti Professor of History and Director, Institute for Research in the Humanities "This is an interesting and readable book....This is a book that should be read widely--not because of its contribution to spirituality, but because of its different way of examining the place of evangelical Christianity in society."--Methodist Recorder

Moore, a professor of history at Cornell University and the author of Religious Outsiders and the Making of Americans , sees paradoxical connections between religion and various forms of commercial entertainment. In a novel approach to explaining the American church-state separation that yet leaves ``religion a central component of the traditions of laicity,'' the author traces the ``commodification'' of religion from the Mormon social halls, musicals and theatrical performances of the 19th century to the televangelical empires of Jim Bakker, Pat Robertson and Jimmy Swaggart in the 20th. Moore looks at the application of skilled advertising techniques not only in contemporary electronic ministries but also in the mainline churches, which have made subtler adaptations to the pluralistic marketplace in such areas as fund-raising, for example. Thoughtful, nonpolemic and provocative, Moore's study is a significant contribution to the scholarship of American religious history. (Mar . )