Gospel of Disunion: Religion and Separatism in the Antebellum South / Edition 1

by Mitchell Snay

Overview

The centrality of religion in the life of the Old South, the strongly religious nature of the sectional controversy over slavery, and the close affinity between religion and antebellum American nationalism all point toward the need to explore the role of religion in the development of southern sectionalism. In Gospel of Disunion Mitchell Snay examines the various ways in which religion adapted to and influenced the development of a distinctive southern culture and politics before the Civil War, adding depth and form to the movement that culminated in secession. From the abolitionist crisis of 1835 through the formation of the Confederacy in 1861, Snay shows how religion worked as an active agent in translating the sectional conflict into a struggle of the highest moral significance. At the same time, the slavery controversy sectionalized southern religion, creating separate institutions and driving theology further toward orthodoxy. By establishing a biblical sanction for slavery, developing a slaveholding ethic for Christian masters, and demonstrating the viability of separation from the North through the denominational schisms of the 1830s and 1840s, religion reinforced central elements in southern political culture and contributed to a moral consensus that made secession possible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807846872
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	09/29/1997
Edition description:	1
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

Mitchell Snay is associate professor of history at Denison University.

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments Introcution: Religion and the search for Southern distinctiveness

Part One: Religion and Sectional Politics
1. The abolitionist crisis of 1835: The issues defined

Part Two: Religion and Slavery
2. Slavery defended: The morality of slavery and the infidelity of abolitionism
3. Slavery sanctified: The slaveholding ethic and the religious mission to the slaves

Part Three: Religion and Separatism
4. Harbingers of disunion: The denominational schisms
5. The religious logic of secession
6. Religion and the formation of a Southern national ideology

Conclusion: Religion, the origins of Southern nationalism, and the coming of the Civil War

Bibliography Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

A major contribution to clarifying what increasingly seems like a fundamental cause of the war: the differing ideologies, North and South, with religious values playing a key part in providing moral meanings to both sides in a sectional struggle that would lead to war.—Charles Reagan Wilson, American Historical Review

Snay utilizes a broad range of primary sources to portray and analyze the religious dimension of this momentous rupture in the political landscape of the nation, and he does so with analytical precision. . . . [His] convincing interpretation is also written in clear, uncluttered prose. . . . The result is a work of interest and importance to most southern historians, not just specialists in religion.—John B. Boles, Georgia Historical Quarterly

Gospel of Disunion brings together all the recent scholarship in a most accessible and congenial synthesis. More important, the author has invested his own intelligence and interpretive skill to give the study a vital spirit of its own.—Bertram Wyatt-Brown, Reviews in American History

Editorial Reviews

"Gospel of Disunion" brings together all the recent scholarship in a most accessible and congenial synthesis.

Bertram Wyatt-Brown, "Reviews in American History"

A major contribution to clarifying what increasingly seems like a fundamental cause of the war.

Charles Reagan Wilson, "American Historical Review"

Snay utilizes a broad range of primary sources to portray and analyze the religious dimension of this momentous rupture.

John B. Boles, "Georgia Historical Quarterly"

""Gospel of Disunion" brings together all the recent scholarship in a most accessible and congenial synthesis.

Bertram Wyatt-Brown, "Reviews in American History""

"A major contribution to clarifying what increasingly seems like a fundamental cause of the war.

Charles Reagan Wilson, "American Historical Review""

"Snay utilizes a broad range of primary sources to portray and analyze the religious dimension of this momentous rupture.

John B. Boles, "Georgia Historical Quarterly""

From the Publisher