Financing American Religion [Paperback]

Chaves and Miller provide a well-integrated, systematic, cohesive, and unified discussion of various aspects of religious financing. As such, this work will take its place as both a practical guide for religious leaders and laity, and as a brief but thorough introduction to research regarding finance and religion for scholars.A richly textured conversation emerges out of this volume in a way that is atypical of most edited volumesparticularly when those authors come from the diverse backgrounds that are evidenced here....this compedium is a worth-while addition to the personal library of anyone interested in the topic.This compact, valuable book brings together the most important current research on faith and money....Worthwhile for anyone interested in the state of individual giving, the congregational resources available for addressing faith and money issues, or philanthropy in religious institutions.Money always has been a subject of deep concern for religious leaders. In recent decades, however, this perennial concern has taken on a new urgency as a crisis situation is perceived. Financing American Religion brings together short, readable essays representing the best, most up-to-date research and thinking on the intersections of money and religion. Sociologists, historians, economists, and theologians ask who gives, how much, and why. They investigate how money moves and how it affects religious organizational behavior. And throughout they explore how attitudes toward money have altered over time. Religious leaders and scholars of American religion will welcome this much-needed volume.Money always has been a subject of deep concern for religious leaders. In recent decades, however, this perennial concern has taken on a new urgency as a crisis situation is perceived. Financing American Religion brings together short, readable essays representing the best, most up-to-date research and thinking on the intersections of money and religion. Sociologists, historians, lS6