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*Evangelicals Incorporated: Books and the Business of Religion in America* ( @Harvard_Press) is one year old! I'm celebrating by giving away a few copies. Retweet this thread by next Thurs. (17th) if you're interested! And check out the thread for more about the book.
2/ First: thanks to those of you who've read/taught/engaged the book this year! If you'd like to check it out and don't have access to it/can't buy it, let me know! (And be sure to put your name in the virtual hat for this giveaway.) https://twitter.com/DanielVacaIII/status/1201988891009601536?s=20
3/ In this thread, I'll share some things I've been glad to see readers point out in some of the reviews, and I'll also highlight some ways I think others can build on it. I'm sharing from reviews because they're so thoughtful but rarely seen (due to paywalls)! So, a sample:
4/ In @CTmagazine, @danielsilliman highlighted my emphasis on evangelicalism as an example of what religion looks like in consumer society. He also notes that evangelicalism is a great example, but far from alone. Where do you see "commercial religion"? https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/december-web-only/evangelicals-incorporated-books-business-daniel-vaca.html
5/ I've been excited to see others make related interventions, including and especially @kkdumez and her bestselling book's argument that evangelical consumer culture nurtured ideals of "rugged masculinity."(Check out her new discussion guide!) https://kristindumez.com/jesus-and-john-wayne-book-club-guide/?fbclid=IwAR2VQcAmO8QXvskCZqEeFjThX8-G89SnkkjaLoTR62sbZfxKOjzmV0-N-J0
6/ In Enterprise & Society, @esj312 explains how the "niche topic" of evangelical publishing speaks to much broader issues around "commerce, politics, and religion," through its focus on the "complex relationship between religious identity and market strategies."
7/ Since @esj312's an expert on women's leadership in the New Christian Right, I was glad to see her discuss the chapter on women's role in the book industry, and how retail practices reflected patriarchal gender ideals and anxieties about the family. http://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/enterprise-and-society/article/daniel-vaca-evangelicals-incorporated-books-and-the-business-of-religion-in-america-cambridge-harvard-university-press-2019-329-pp-isbn-9780674980112-3995-cloth/0C1F04D327169874CABA66DC39257818
8/ In @AmRelJournal, @darrengrem also looks at the retail chapter. He underlines my invitation to see the evangelical bookselling industry as a precursor to some of what Bethany Moreton explores in her history of Wal-Mart and Christian free enterprise.
9/ Special shout out to Grem for using the word "juicy" to describe my analysis of 19th c evangelicalism! And I was grateful that he described the book as a complement to juicy work by scholars like @ProfHendershot and @HedstromMatt. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/amerreli.2.1.26
10/ In @ChristianCent, Grant Wacker highlights the book's focus on how commercial priorities/practices/infrastructures led evangelical corporations to build a culture that presumed and capitalized on the whiteness of its consumers.
11/ Trade associations, shopping-mall stores, niche marketing strategies: they all helped nurture evangelical whiteness. I see this as part of the much larger story chronicled in books like @AntheaButler's forthcoming White Evangelical Racism. https://uncpress.org/book/9781469661179/white-evangelical-racism/
12/ Linking the book to other histories that explore evangelical innovations, @heathwcarter (in Interdisciplinary History) looks at how financial strategies like corporate mergers and public offerings of stock became braided together with evangelical understandings of success.
13/ Carter offers a helpful list of areas I tried to engage: "theoretical insights drawn from a variety of different fields, including religious studies, American history, whiteness studies, the history of the book, the history of capitalism, and more." https://muse.jhu.edu/article/775187
14/ That's enough reviews for now! (Some others I've already tweeted out in the past, and I can add them to this thread later.) To wrap up, I'll point to a few issues I wrote about that I'd love to see others engage or build on in their own work:
15/ *Fox News/News Corp* Overall, the book helps explain how/why secular media conglomerates took over the world of evangelical media, helping tie white evangelicals to right-wing media/politics. Others have told more of this story, but there's more to do. @Anelsona @PeckReece
16/ *Spirituality/nones/mainline Christians* How does the business of religion blur supposed boundaries between religious cultures? Evangelical culture is prevalent in seemingly unexpected places, and its commercial prevalence is part of why. @tanyaluhrmann helps show this.
17/ *Evangelicals of color* I show how niche marketing strategies became a technique of embracing non-white consumers, especially Black and Latinx evangelicals. But I'd love to see others explore this ongoing shift more fully.
18/ *Progressive evangelicals* Evangelical media corporations have been making more space for people seeking a more progressive and antiracist ev'ism. But who's listening? Where/why/how? Is commercialism a constraint or resource? See @JemarTisby, e.g. https://jemartisby.com/books/the-color-of-compromise
19/ *Living online* What does the biz of religion look like in an age of online shopping, microtargeting, and more direct engagement between consumers and content creators (e.g., twitter/instagram/substack)? I lay groundwork for those questions—and maybe w too much pessimism?
20/ To wrap up: I want to cite and thank @sharirabin for inspiring this book giveaway! Check out her giveaway of her excellent Jews on the Frontier: Religion and Mobility in Nineteenth-century America ( @NYUPress). https://twitter.com/sharirabin/status/1336693335122120713?s=20
21/ If you're interested in *Evangelicals Incorporated*, you can: retweet this thread, borrow/request it from your library, or buy a copy wherever you prefer. @Harvard_Press offers 30% off this month with the code HOLIDAY20. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674980112
22/ And don't hesitate to reach out to me if you can't get your hands on a copy, or if you'd like to assign it in a class or reading group. I'm happy to discuss strategies with you or to visit your group/class virtually (or, someday: in person!).
Thanks to all of you who engaged with this thread this past week! I'll close out the book giveaway tonight and reach out to the winners this weekend!
In the meantime, I thought I'd share a few more links/connections that I cut out/saw since last week! https://twitter.com/DanielVacaIII/status/1339623730675331074?s=20
