Playing with Noah in Wanamaker's Temple: (Re)Thinking U.S. Christianity in American Studies

Abstract

Playing with Noah in Wanamaker's Temple:(Re)Thinking U.S. Christianity in American Studies Rachel Beckley (bio) WANAMAKER'S TEMPLE: The Business of Religion in an Iconic Department Store. By Nicole C. Kirk. New York City: New York University Press. 2018. ARK ENCOUNTER: The Making of a Creationist Theme Park. By James S. Bielo. New York City: New York University Press. 2018. Religion has been, and remains, a driving force in American history. Yet, all too often scholars of American society and culture view religion and religiosity as secondary to prime movers like race, class, and gender. American Studies rarely engages with an in-depth analysis of religious practitioners or religious cultural creation, falling into the trap of relegating religious motivation to the realm of superstition. This is especially true in the current political moment where conservative Christian support of Republican politicians is seen as either the height of hypocrisy or a testament to political manipulation. Nevertheless, religious [End Page 7] practitioners, far from opiate-takers with dulled senses, are active and creative in the public sector. With the recent scholarly work coming out of Anthropology, History, Religious Studies, and American Studies, however, religion is coming to the fore as a prime mover and motivator in American history. Two such scholars, Nicole Kirk, an historian, and James Bielo, an ethnographer, have different methodologies, sources, time periods, and people, but both discuss how conservative Christians (variously defined) have influenced U.S. culture particularly in the business sector. Both at least tacitly understand their forms of conservative Christianity to be oppressive cultural creators, upholding gendered, classist, and racialized cultural norms. But, both scholars demonstrate how religious practitioners help(ed) to (re)create those cultural norms. Fashioning Decorum with Wanamaker In Nicole C. Kirk's first book Wanamaker's Temple: The Business of Religion in an Iconic Department Store, Kirk uncovers the life of John Wanamaker and the growth of his iconic department stores between 1880 and 1920. Wanamaker's example allows Kirk to interrogate the development of good taste, decorum, and respectability in U.S. culture by Protestant businessmen, a development that privileged white, middle-class values and norms. Kirk represents the most recent scholar to take up the question of the role of religion, particularly Protestantism, and how it intersected with business interests and consumerism. Other scholars, including Kim Philips-Fein, Kevin Kruse, Darren Grem, Bethany Moreton, and Darren Dochuck (to name a few), have looked to the 1920s-1960s to set up the interwoven nature of business interests/free market economics and Protestantism. These authors often connect the amalgamation of business interests and Christian interests to the rise of the Religious Right and the conservative turn in U.S. politics. Kirk's analysis, however, represents one of the first to focus on the 1850-1920s rather than the mid-century. During the late 1800s, most religious revivalists viewed businessmen as corrupt, greedy, and irreligious. Unfortunately, Kirk notes, modern scholars also assume corrupt business/religion connections by presupposing an inverse correlation between the rise of consumerism and a presumed decrease of Protestantism (and religious perspectives in general). In this perspective, businessmen used religious language or "gimmicks" in order to sell their products. However, this historical perspective devalues the work performed by religious practitioners in bringing their perspectives to bear on the public sector. Kirk is particularly interested in turn-of-the-century Christian moral reform projects during the urban crisis and increased immigration from Europe. In response to a rapidly changing U.S. landscape, Protestants felt fear. An influx of immigrants caused explosive growth in unprepared urban centers. While many at the time interpreted urban growth as a sign of progress and technological wonder, Protestants worried about sprawl, unemployment, crime, poverty, and unsanitary conditions. City work accepted women in the workplace while following [End Page 8] on the heels of diminished church authority and the decline of family-owned stores in favor of large businesses. All this led to a belief that city life inherently caused moral degradation. But these changes paled in comparison to the fear of increased immigration. Immigrants between the 1820s-1920s challenged the Protestant majority and brought unassimilated workers into sprawling, poverty-stricken urban landscapes. In...