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UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Evangelical Economic Rhetoric : : The Great Recession, the Free-Market and the Language of Personal Responsibility Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/504434dd Author Martin, Stephanie A. Publication Date 2013 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Evangelical Economic Rhetoric: The Great Recession, the Free-Market and the Language of Personal Responsibility A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Communication by Stephanie A. Martin Committee in Charge: Professor Robert B. Horwitz, Chair Professor John Evans Professor Gary Fields Professor Valerie Hartouni Professor Isaac Martin 2013 Copyright Stephanie A. Martin, 2013 All rights reserved. The Dissertation of Stephanie A. Martin is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Chair University of California, San Diego 2013 iii DEDICATION With enormous thanks to everyone who hung in there with me, through it all, skies blue or black. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page .............................................................................................................. iii Dedication ...................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... vii Vita ................................................................................................................................ xi Abstract of the Dissertation .......................................................................................... xii Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 Section One: Frank’s Argument and the Overall “Culture Wars” ........................... 14 Section Two: Outline of the Chapters to Come ....................................................... 16 Section Three: The Population Comprising the Evangelical Audience ................... 26 Chapter One: Historical Firmaments: How Evangelicals Came to Favor Free-Market Fundamentalism ........................................................................................................... 29 Section One: The Inherent Conflict in American Conservatism .............................. 32 Section Two: The Problem of Communism ............................................................. 42 Section Three: Fusionism Emerges alongside the Fight for Civil Rights ................ 47 Section Four: Struggling with the Programs of the Great Society ........................... 54 Section Five: The Influence of the Jesus Freaks ...................................................... 61 Section Six: Desegregation, Christian Private Schools, and the IRS ....................... 66 Section Seven: The Importance of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson ....................... 72 Section Eight: Chapter Conclusion .......................................................................... 79 Chapter Two: The Economic Rhetoric of Evangelical Pastors: Preaching Personal Responsibility and Promoting a Pathway to Prosperity ............................................... 82 Section One: The Doctrinal Basis of the Sermon ..................................................... 85 Section Two: General Themes Presented in Economic Sermons ........................... 90 Section Three: The Structure and Importance of Personal Responsibility for Understanding the Great Recession ......................................................................... 94 Section Four: Personal Responsibility to Work Hard and Overcome Laziness ...... 96 v Chapter Two Continued: Section Five: Consumerism, Spending, and Debt ................................................. 103 Section Six: The importance of the Tithe .............................................................. 116 Section Seven: The Recession as a Supernatural Response to Global Poverty ..... 123 Section Eight: Chapter Conclusion ....................................................................... 130 Chapter Three: If the Frame Fits: How the Narrative Patterns of Evangelical Economic Rhetoric Mirror those of Evangelical Values Rhetoric ............................. 134 Section One: Why these Three Churches? ............................................................ 139 Section Two: Sermon One..................................................................................... 140 Section Three: Sermon Two .................................................................................. 152 Section Four: Sermon Three .................................................................................. 168 Section Five: Chapter Conclusion .......................................................................... 182 Chapter Four: What a Difference Structure Makes: The Economic Rhetoric of a Mainline Church ......................................................................................................... 184 Section One: About Western Presbyterian Church ............................................... 189 Section Two: The Economic Rhetoric of Western Presbyterian Church .............. 192 Section Three: Western Presbyterian Church and Work ....................................... 193 Section Four: Consumption, Spending and Debt .................................................. 204 Section Five: The Role of Business Regulation and Government Oversight ....... 213 Section Six: Who Counts As Poor? ....................................................................... 218 Section Seven: Chapter Conclusion ...................................................................... 229 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 233 Appendix A: Research Methodology ......................................................................... 249 Section One: Sermons as Forms of Rhetoric ......................................................... 253 Section Two: Kairos .............................................................................................. 255 Section Three: Audience ....................................................................................... 257 Section Four: Invention ......................................................................................... 260 Appendix B: ................................................................................................................ 264 List of Sermons Studied ......................................................................................... 265 Geographic Map ..................................................................................................... 271 Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 272 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is a strange thing to come to the end of a project like this, and realize the time has come to say thank you. The temptation is to want to extend appreciation to the stars, the moon, and everyone and everything in between, to the point of absurdity. It feels like everyone who has ever has stepped onto my path deserves some recognition, but of course this is impossible. So to the many of you who have helped me, but who will not specifically be named, you know who you are, and what you have done, and I thank you. First, to the staff in the Communication Department: Liz Floyd, Jamie Lloyd, Gayle Aruta, Stacie Walsh, Bea Velasco, and Bruce Jones. You make the department. Thanks for letting me share some of your smiles. To my committee, thank you so much. John Evans, your smart questions and contributions in our Workshop for the Study of Conservative Movements made me admire your intellect. Your thoughtful and patient responses to my e-mails and questions when I first approached you for help made me hopeful that you would agree to come on board and work on this project, even fairly late in the game. Thanks for agreeing to do so. Isaac Martin, a seminar I took with you at the start of my second year first introduced me to many of the ideas that I have tried to work out over the course of this text. In the years that have passed since I took that class, you have served as a wonderful mentor and friend, and have patiently answered questions over coffee and lunch. You have kept me going in moments when I have felt very discouraged about my work. I’m deeply touched by all that you have added to my vii scholarship, and if any of this work passes any kind of sociological muster – even at the very lowest bar – your tutelage had a lot to do with it. Gary Fields, your curious wit and keen intellect have challenged me from the start. Your ability to ask the unexpected question is an immeasurable gift. Thanks for this, and so much more. Val Hartouni, theory ninja, Scrabble master, mentor, friend. You have given me so much more than I can express gratitude for, or even fully articulate. Your generous spirit and quiet strength gave me hope when all of mine had almost worn through. That is a gift I will never forget. So much of this was possible because of what you did.