David J. Jeremy

These essays about British Methodists in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, explore the process of collective remembering. Three distinct aspects are probed in this volume: how telling life stories shaped identity for the Methodist movement; how remembering lives was both contrived and contested; how historians' techniques have exposed the process of memorialising and remembering in Methodism.

This is a study of the relationship between capitalism and Christianity in twentieth-century Britain. David Jeremy examines the collective biographies of three business élites in order to explore issues important to business and religion. How did the churches shape the thinking of future business leaders? What impact did Christianity have on big business? How has the participation of business people in religious life affected the major Protestant denominations? David Jeremy traces the development of business values in a formally Christian society; he shows how churchmen among business leaders related their faith to their business and the dilemmas this could entail; and he uncovers the varying parts played by businessmen from personal involvement in their local congregation to funding and organizing major denominations, or an interdenominational venture like the 1954 Billy Graham Crusade to London. Using a wide range of sources, including newspapers and journals, unpublished records, and interviews, Dr Jeremy has produced a thought-provoking analysis of a relationship that can be both tense and fruitful. His insights into the private faith and business ethics of leading entrepreneurs and businessmen are underpinned by intensive quantitative analysis. Capitalists and Christians is an invaluable study of the intertwining of two vital strands in twentieth-century British history.