Guaranteed Pure: The Moody Bible Institute, Business, and the Making of Modern Evangelism Timothy E. W. Gloege. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015.

Guaranteed Pure: The Moody Bible Institute, Business, and the Making of Modern Evangelism Timothy E. W. Gloege. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015.Guaranteed Pure: The Moody Bible Institute, Business, and the Making of Modern Evangelicalism tells the story of the founding and evolution of Moody Bible Institute through its history of practical business management. The front cover hosts a photograph of A. F. Gaylord, business manager of the Moody Bible Institute (MBI, named after Moody's death in 1900). The inside cover describes the emergence of a "consumer-oriented ?orthodoxy'... [guaranteed pure of both liberal theology and Populist excesses," calling it an "old-time religion" dependent on modern consumer capitalism. Reviewers praise the book for advancing readers' knowledge of Protestant fundamentalism. The author Timothy E. W. Gloege writes, "This book attempts to explain the continuing vibrancy of conservative evangelicalism and its ideological and political allegiances to modern consumer capitalism" (13). Noting that "fundamentalism" embraces "an impossibly diverse coalition of people," Gloege limits his inclusion to those claiming the label in the 1910s and 1920s; he also bounds "modern consumer capitalism," warning that it cannot explain "all aspects of conservative evangelicalism" (14). The book does, however, claim "that the core leadership of the early fundamentalist movement-those who controlled key institutions, funded its endeavors, and helped define what the ?fundamentals' were-was profoundly influenced by modern business" (14).Gloege organizes "the story of corporate evangelicalism in two parts": the rise of post-Civil war evangelicalism and the ensuing crisis; and, after 1900, its evolution into conservative evangelicalism. The first chapter traces Dwight L. Moody's early life, the rise of "evangelical realism," and Moody's ideas of Christian work; Chapter 2 treats the rising labor unrest and the development of the Moody Bible Institute (MBI); and Chapter 3 introduces the early life of American evangelist Rueben A. Torrey (1889-1908), head of the Bible Institute of the Chicago Evangelization Society, later to become the Moody Bible Institute, and his ideas about "power for service." Chapter 4 examines the 1890's crisis at Moody, involving radical evangelicals and faith healer John Alexander Dowie. Belonging to Part Two, Chapter 5 devotes itself to a "Business Basis" spearheaded by Henry Parsons Crowell, a leader in the oatmeal business in 1882 and Quaker Oats in 1891. Following a leave of absence by Reuben A. Torrey, Crowell reorganized the MBI, giving it a sound business plan and a vision for the future. Gloege describes Crowell as an early pioneer in "the trifecta of trademark, package, and promotion" that proved to be applicable to any consumer good, including the story of the MBI (117). Chapter 6 charts the "pivot" at the MBI from an identity rooted in Christian work to one of "pure religion" rooted in consumer identity, and Chapter 7 focuses on "The Fundamentals," a project resulting in the creation of "an ad hoc ?orthodoxy'" (11). Finally, Chapter 8 describes a conflict between fundamentalists and modernists arising in the 1910s and the rise in the 1920s of a fundamentalist coalition. The Epilogue returns to the role of the MBI in the development of modern conservative evangelicalism.Succinctly, Gloege lays out a framework for understanding American Protestantism. He first describes a "?churchly' orientation" that influenced North American settlement and emphasized authentic faith as requiring church membership in a particular church, religious authority rooted in the Bible but exercised by the church, and a biblical interpretation guided by theological tradition and ordained clergy (5). After the rise of the intellectual "Enlightenment," responsibility for thinking became the privilege of the individual, who used reason and empirical observation to question "long-standing assumptions" (6). …