Norman Vincent Peale

===Beginnings===
{{one source | section | date = January 2022}}
Serving as a pulpit replacement in a subsequent summer break (for an Ohio church pastor that had fallen ill), the Boston theology trainee was persuaded by his father to abandon the formal preaching style of his training for one of simplicity, which led Peale to talk about "[[Jesus Christ]]... relat[ing him] to the simplicities of human lives," and which led, he would later recollect, to a "good reception" and "look[s] of gratitude and goodness" on the faces of congregants.<ref name=":0" /> Leaving school thereafter to earn needed funds, Peale would work in journalism at ''[[The Detroit Journal]]'', after a year of reporting in [[Findlay, Ohio]] at ''The Morning Republican''.<ref name=":0" /> Leaving journalism, Peale returned his focus to ministry, and in 1922<ref name=":0" /> was ordained a pastor in the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name = BritConciseEncycl_NVP/> After a first assignment in Rhode Island, at an unknown church in [[Berkeley, Rhode Island|Berkeley]],<ref name=":0" /> he accepted a call to [[Brooklyn]],<ref name=":0" /><ref name = BritConciseEncycl_NVP/> where, in 1924, his work from the pulpit, and in general, boosted its membership more than twenty-fold within a year, leading the small congregation to build a new church.<ref name=":0" />

He received a call to Syracuse, New York<ref name=":0" /><ref name = BritConciseEncycl_NVP/> and in 1927 took the pulpit at the University Methodist Church;<ref name=":0" /> it was also while there that he became one of the first American clergymen to bring his sermons to the emerging commercial technology of radio,<ref name=":0" />{{citation needed|date = January 2022}}<!--need to substantiate "emerging commercial technology".--> a media decision that added to his general popularity, and that he would later extend in the same way to television.<ref name = BritConciseEncycl_NVP/> During the [[Great Depression|Depression]], Peale teamed up with [[J.C. Penney]] & Co. founder [[James Cash Penney]], radio personality [[Arthur Godfrey]], and [[IBM]] founder and President [[Thomas J. Watson]], forming (and sitting the first board of) [[40Plus]], an organization aimed at helping unemployed managers and executives.{{Citation needed|date = August 2015}} On June 20, 1930, Peale married Loretta Ruth Stafford.{{who|date = January 2022}}{{where|date = January 2022}}<ref name=":0" />

In 1932 or 1933 he was called to the [[Marble Collegiate Church]] in New York City,<ref name=":0" /><ref name = BritConciseEncycl_NVP/> a call which required that he "switch his denomination"<ref name=":0" />—for a clergyman, transfer his ordination{{citation needed|date = January 2022}}—to the [[Reformed Church in America]], "a transfer made... with no apparent problem for him".<ref name=":0" /> His tenure at [[Marble Collegiate Church]], which dated to 1628 and was "said to be the oldest continuous Protestant congregation in the country",<ref name=":0" /> began with an attendance at service of 200, but which would grow to thousands, as a result of his "spirited sermons".<ref name=":0" /> Peale would remain at Marble until his retirement from pastoral work,<ref name = BritConciseEncycl_NVP/> in 1984.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.marblechurch.org/welcome/history/|title=History - Welcome - Marble Collegiate Church|website=www.marblechurch.org|access-date=October 25, 2019|archive-date=October 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025141707/http://www.marblechurch.org/welcome/history/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

His theology was controversial, and prominent theologians such as Ronald Niebuhr and William Miller spoke out publicly against it. They contended that Peale's theology falsely represented Christianity and that Peale's writings and sermons were factually false as well. Niebuhr said "This new cult is dangerous. Anything which corrupts the Gospel hurts Christianity. And it hurts people too."<ref name=Peters/> William Miller Wrote that Peale's theology is "hard on the truth," full of undocumented claims, and after reviewing Peale's entire library of books, said "the later ones are worse."{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}