Evangelicals Incorporated: Books and the Business of Religion in America Books and the Business of Religion in America

**A new history explores the commercial heart of evangelical Christianity.** American evangelicalism is big business. For decades, the world's largest media conglomerates have sought out evangelical consumers, and evangelical books have regularly become international best sellers. In the early 2000s, Rick Warren's __The Purpose Driven Life__ spent ninety weeks on the __New York Times__ Best Sellers list and sold more than thirty million copies. But why have evangelicals achieved such remarkable commercial success? According to Daniel Vaca, evangelicalism depends upon commercialism. Tracing the once-humble evangelical book industry's emergence as a lucrative center of the US book trade, Vaca argues that evangelical Christianity became religiously and politically prominent through business activity. Through areas of commerce such as branding, retailing, marketing, and finance, for-profit media companies have capitalized on the expansive potential of evangelicalism for more than a century. Rather than treat evangelicalism as a type of conservative Protestantism that market forces have commodified and corrupted, Vaca argues that evangelicalism is an expressly commercial religion. Although religious traditions seem to incorporate people who embrace distinct theological ideas and beliefs, Vaca shows, members of contemporary consumer society often participate in religious cultures by engaging commercial products and corporations. By examining the history of companies and corporate conglomerates that have produced and distributed best-selling religious books, bibles, and more, Vaca not only illustrates how evangelical ideas, identities, and alliances have developed through commercial activity but also reveals how the production of evangelical identity became a component of modern capitalism. A new history explores the commercial heart of evangelical Christianity. Awarded honorable mention for the Modern Language Association's Matei Calinescu Prize (2020), which recognizes "a distinguished work of scholarship in twentieth- or twentieth-first-century literature and thought." American evangelicalism is big business. For decades, the world's largest media conglomerates have sought out evangelical consumers, and evangelical books have regularly become international best sellers. In the early 2000s, Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life spent ninety weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list and sold more than thirty million copies. But why have evangelicals achieved such remarkable commercial success? According to Daniel Vaca, evangelicalism depends upon commercialism. Tracing the once-humble evangelical book industry's emergence as a lucrative center of the US book trade, Vaca argues that evangelical Christianity became religiously and politically prominent through business activity. Through areas of commerce such as branding, retailing, marketing, and finance, for-profit media companies have capitalized on the expansive potential of evangelicalism for more than a century. Rather than treat evangelicalism as a type of conservative Protestantism that market forces have commodified and corrupted, Vaca argues that evangelicalism is an expressly commercial religion. Although religious traditions seem to incorporate people who embrace distinct theological ideas and beliefs, Vaca shows, members of contemporary consumer society often participate in religious cultures by engaging commercial products and corporations. By examining the history of companies and corporate conglomerates that have produced and distributed best-selling religious books, bibles, and more, Vaca not only illustrates how evangelical ideas, identities, and alliances have developed through commercial activity but also reveals how the production of evangelical identity became a component of modern capitalism. A new history explores the commercial heart of evangelical Christianity. American evangelicalism is big business. For decades, the world's largest media conglomerates have sought out evangelical consumers, and evangelical books have regularly become international best sellers. In the early 2000s, Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life spent ninety weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list and sold more than thirty million copies. But why have evangelicals achieved such remarkable commercial success? According to Daniel Vaca, evangelicalism depends upon commercialism. Tracing the once-humble evangelical book industry's emergence as a lucrative center of the U.S. book trade, Vaca argues that evangelical Christianity became religiously and politically prominent through business activity. Through areas of commerce such as branding, retailing, marketing, and finance, for-profit media companies have capitalized on the expansive potential of evangelicalism for more than a century. Rather than treat evangelicalism as a type of conservative Protestantism that market forces have commodified and corrupted, Vaca argues that evangelicalism is an expressly commercial religion. Although religious traditions seem to incorporate people who embrace distinct theological ideas and beliefs, Vaca shows, members of contemporary consumer society often participate in religious cultures by engaging commercial products and corporations. By examining the history of companies and corporate conglomerates that have produced and distributed best-selling religious books, bibles, and more, Vaca not only illustrates how evangelical ideas, identities, and alliances have developed through commercial activity but also reveals how the production of evangelical identity became a component of modern capitalism. - Publisher. "Long before evangelical Christians became known as a powerful political constituency, evangelicals were a profitable consumer constituency. In Evangelicals Incorporated Daniel Vaca argues that evangelical Christianity became a prominent form of religious life in the twentieth-century United States through commercial activity. To tell this story, Vaca focuses especially on the evangelical book industry, which not only has produced some of the bestselling titles in American history but also has inspired the world's largest secular media conglomerates to pursue evangelical markets. Drawing on corporate archives, personal letters, interviews, and more, [this work] explains how for-profit evangelical publishers and booksellers grew from modest roots to one of the most lucrative corners of the international book trade. By exploring areas of commercialism such as branding, retailing, marketing, and finance, Vaca illustrates how commercial media companies have cultivated and capitalized upon the expansive idea of evangelicalism since the end of the nineteenth century"-- Provided by publisher Introduction Finding profit : the ascendance of commercialism Brands of distinction : creating value through the fundamentalist network Trade associating : evangelical allegiance in the mass market Righteous retail : women, family, and the social power of selling Financial faith : corporate finance and the sacred tradition of growth The spirit of segmentation : making something for everyone Epilogue

American evangelicalism is big business. It is not, Daniel Vaca argues, just a type of conservative Protestantism that market forces have commodified. Rather evangelicalism is an expressly commercial practice, in which the faithful participate, learn, and develop religious identities by engaging corporations and commercial products.