Christ would be a national advertiser today, I am sure, as He was a great advertiser in His own day. He thought of His life as business.

Bruce Barton (1886–1967), a prominent American advertising executive and cofounder of the agency BBDO, became famous—and controversial—for presenting Jesus in modern business terms. The line reflects the ethos of early-20th-century American boosterism, when advertising and salesmanship were increasingly celebrated as engines of national prosperity. Barton’s ideas circulated widely in popular print and were later developed at length in his best-selling book portraying Jesus as an energetic organizer, leader, and promoter. The remark belongs to that broader project: recasting Christian narrative in the language of commerce to make it resonate with businessmen and an emerging corporate culture.

The quote argues that Jesus’ effectiveness depended not only on spiritual authority but on practical skills associated with publicity: reaching audiences, shaping a message, and mobilizing followers. By calling Christ an “advertiser,” Barton collapses the boundary between evangelism and marketing, implying that persuasion and “promotion” are morally neutral tools that can serve sacred ends. The claim that Jesus “thought of His life as business” reframes vocation as purposeful enterprise—organized, strategic, and results-oriented. The significance is double-edged: admirers read it as a democratizing, modern idiom for faith; critics see it as commodifying religion and sanctifying commercial culture.