Market authority replaced denominational authority in early fundamentalism

Evidence

Borrowing from modern advertising techniques, evangelical innovators crafted a generic, nonsectarian faith that privileged individuals’ “plain reading of the Bible” and championed a commitment to the pure, unadulterated “fundamentals” of the faith. Branding this innovative approach “old-time religion,” they then marketed this faith directly to consumers. Through religious merchandising and with the help of celebrity pitchmen like Sunday himself, they effectively replaced traditional denominational authorities with the authority of the market and the power of consumer choice. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 42

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Directly supports the book’s core method argument — that consumer culture, not pulpit theology, transmitted evangelical identity. Could anchor a piece on how the market became a mechanism of religious authority.
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that fundamentalism was manufactured via advertising and consumer choice rather than unfolding from theological tradition is genuinely paradigm-shifting for how one reads American religion.