The Civil War was a major turning point in American religious thought, argues Mark A. Noll. Although Christian believers agreed with one another that the Bible was authoritative and that it should be interpreted through commonsense principles, there was rampant disagreement about what Scripture taught about slavery.
Furthermore, most Americans continued to believe that God ruled over the affairs of people and nations, but they were radically divided in their interpretations of what God was doing in and through the war.In addition to examining what white and black Americans wrote about slavery and race, Noll surveys commentary from foreign observers. Protestants and Catholics in Europe and Canada saw clearly that no matter how much the voluntary reliance on scriptural authority had contributed to the construction of national civilization, if there were no higher religious authority than personal interpretation regarding an issue as contentious as slavery, the resulting public deadlock would amount to a full-blown theological crisis. By highlighting this theological conflict, Noll adds to our understanding of not only the origins but also the intensity of the Civil War.
The book is published by University of North Carolina Press.
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"A heavy read but very worth while to understand the religious views of the time of the civil war. " — Dean (4 out of 5 stars)
"A heavy read but very worth while to understand the religious views of the time of the civil war. "
" Thorough, readable, historical, not overly scholastic, extensive. The Civil War was indeed a theological crisis, and this book showed the the multiple layers of that crisis. "
" A heavy read but very worth while to understand the religious views of the time of the civil war. "
Mark A. Noll is an American historian specializing in the history of Christianity in the United States. He holds the position of Research Professor of History at Regent College, having previously been Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. He is one of the nation’s most distinguished practitioners of American religious history and is the author of dozens of books in this field, including The Civil War as a Theological Crisis and Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind.
Marc Cashman, Earphones Award–winning narrator, was named one of the “Best Voices of the Year” by AudioFile magazine. His voice can be heard on radio, television, film, and video games. He also instructs voice actors through his classes, The Cashman Cache of Voice-Acting Techniques, in Los Angeles.
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