Religion and the American Civil War

by Randall M. Miller (Editor), Harry S. Stout (Editor), Charles Reagan Wilson (Editor)

Overview

The sixteen essays in this volume, all previously unpublished, address the little considered question of the role played by religion in the American Civil War. The authors show that religion, understood in its broadest context as a culture and community of faith, was found wherever the war was found. Comprising essays by such scholars as Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Drew Gilpin Faust, Mark Noll, Reid Mitchell, Harry Stout, and Bertram Wyatt-Brown, and featuring an afterword by James McPherson, this collection marks the first step towards uncovering this crucial yet neglected aspect of American history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199923663
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/05/1998
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

St. Joseph's University

Yale University

University of Mississippi

Table of Contents

	Contributors	xi
	Introduction	3
I.	Overview
1.	Religion and the American Civil War	21
II.	Ideas
2.	The Bible and Slavery	43
3.	Religion in the Collapse of the American Union	74
4.	Church, Honor, and Secession	89
5.	The Coming of the Lord: The Northern Protestant Clergy and the Civil War Crisis	110
6.	"Wholesome Reading Purifies and Elevates the Man": The Religious Military Press in the Confederacy	131
7.	"Yankee Faith" and Southern Redemption: White Southern Baptist Ministers, 1850-1890	167
8.	Stonewall Jackson and the Providence of God	187
9.	Lincoln's Sermon on the Mount: The Second Inaugural	208
III.	People
10.	Days of Judgment, Days of Wrath: The Civil War and the Religious Imagination of Women Writers	229
11.	"Without Pilot or Compass": Elite Women and Religion in the Civil War South	250
12.	Catholic Religion, Irish Ethnicity, and the Civil War	261
13.	Christian Soldiers?: Perfecting the Confederacy	297
IV.	Places
14.	Civil War, Religion, and Communications: The Case of Richmond	313
15.	Religion and the Results of the Civil War	360
V.	Comparisons
16.	Religion and the American Civil War in Comparative Perspective	385
	Afterword	408
	Index	413

Editorial Reviews

"...the essays offer many provocative new insights....the excellent essays in Religion and the American Civil War succeed brilliantly in the editors' goal of stimulating and deepening the study of religion during a critical era of American history."—Georgia Historical Quarterly

"...[an] excellent collection."—News and Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina

"...this volume...is one that should be given great consideration by anyone wishing to enrich his or her Civil War library. The essays contained within are well written, very well researched and documented, and contribute greatly to an underrated and misunderstood aspect of the Civil War."—The Civil War Library and Museum

"...religion and the American Civil War are two topics that relate to one another in fascinating and revelatory ways....Religion and the American Civil War stands as a welcomed addition to the study of American religious history and to the study of the Civil War."—Koinonia

"The essays...give voice to people who were not in charge but whose lives were nonetheless greatly impacted by the war. The resulting story is complex and multilayered and should stimulate the interest of a wide range of readers....All readership levels will benefit from this book."—Choice

From the Publisher