Russell Conwell was an influential and highly successful Baptist minister who introduced ideas about prosperity and abundance that were, at the time, highly controversial in the world of Christianity. Contrary to then-popular opinion, Conwell believed that Christians and other spiritually-minded people had a duty to capitalize on their divinely given gifts to become wealthy. In the remarkably popular volume Praying for Money , Conwell addresses this topic in detail and provides some helpful how-to hints.