Curated by It’s That Part™ — Originally published by Faith and Proverbs on .
It is understandable that there are variations between Northerners and Southerners in history. White Northerners held a variety of views on the conscience of slavery, but they tended to have a quasi-sacred outlook on the country. They so detested the Confederate’s endeavor to splinter that country.
White Southerners, on the other hand, usually concurred that slavery was permitted by the Bible. Some Southern officials portrayed the South as a design Holy world with an orderly business, supported by slave-owning guests, and built on a “mud-sill” group of imprisoned workmen.
According to historian Mark Noll, the” theological crisis” of the Civil War was brought on by the North and South’s inability to reach a biblical consensus regarding the permissibility of chattel slavery ( a system in which masters treat slaves as transferable property ). So begins Lincoln’s Next Inaugural Address,” The combat came.”
However, these traditional North-South groups don’t reveal why Christians in the North were deeply divided among themselves as well. Their division was evidently less extreme than what separated South from North. However, Northern” Copperheads” and North” Copperheads” reported violent outbursts during the war, which also demonstrated how significant the differences may be.
In Richard Carwardine’s Virtuous Conflict: How Warring Catholic Patriots Forged Lincoln’s Union, Richard Carwardine depicts how these “warring religious separatists” shaped the North during the Civil War. Carwardine is one of the best researchers of religion and politics from the slave and Civil War periods. I’ve frequently recommended his excellent book on Lincoln’s spirituality, Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power.
Finding Parallels and Searching for them
Many Americans currently assume that bright Northerners overwhelmingly supported freedom during the Civil War. That was simply not the case, as Carwardine demonstrates. Numerous rank-and-file Unionists and prominent North Protestant and Catholic leaders vehemently opposed abolitionism, calling it foolish and fanatical.
Lincoln’s individual opinions are up for debate, but he made it abundantly clear when he was elected president in 1860 that he had no intention of bringing up slavery in the South. He claimed that he had no legal authority to do so.
In 1860, it was commonly accepted that slavery was governed by state rather than national law. That legal knowledge was altered by the battle and Lincoln’s leadership as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
More than a year into the war, Lincoln also made it known in full that his top priority was the preservation of the Union. He was willing to do so if he may preserve the Union without releasing the slaves. Lincoln even stated on occasion that he believed the light civilization should have the upper hand in British society, which is customary for all but the most extreme officials. Lincoln later accepted freedom, believing that the Union would triumph if slavery were to be abolished.
Whatever Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation‘s intentions were, the president ran a high risk by alienating conservative religious nationalists who wanted to keep the Union while allowing servitude to remain. By the word” conservative,” Carwardine refers to nationalists who hoped to” conserve” the Union largely and intact. By the end of the book, Carwardine also makes comparisons between the early 21st century and the traditional Christian patriots.
The weak point of Virtuous Strife is this awkward comparison. There are already more than enough books that sloppyly look into the spiritual roots of Trumpism in several Religious movements in the past.
Celebrating a Particular Patriotism
Carwardine makes a more intriguing argument that social policies can be a great form of Christian populism if its adherents are willing to follow its lead. In the 1860s, Carwardine, who believed that America may abolish slavery because it was a Christian, preferred. They argued that enslavement was against the country’s divine purpose.
Carwardine makes his most thoughtful remarks about Northern figures, including Abraham Lincoln, who during the war shifted from traditional ( anti-emancipationist ) nationalism to abolitionist nationalism. Princeton Seminary preacher Charles Hodge is one of Carwardine’s most intelligent studies in this vein.
Hodge was unquestionably the greatest proponent of higher bible censure during that time. However, he was a reasonable on slavery. Hodge was a prisoner landlord himself and had many Southern individuals. Hodge couldn’t think of a justification for “in the abstract” condemnation of slavery in a simple reading of Scripture. The Bible didn’t directly address the institution’s morality, instead generally slanting its way.
Hodge was unquestionably the greatest proponent of higher bible censure during that time. However, he was a reasonable on slavery.
Hodge was however harshly critical of South property servitude, which was riddled with corruption and abuse that was against biblical principles. Some slave masters were willing to split up slave people with the click of a pen. Some white people resisted educating slaves on the Bible because they worried that revolutionary ideas about liberty may emerge from stories like the exodus.
Hodge even displayed a common nationalist respect for the American Union, stating that the Confederacy’s attempt to break away from the United States was foolish and paranoid. Hodge, like many other northern Christians, fought for independence because he was a liberal.
Hodge came to support Lincoln’s Proclamation despite having much opposed emancipation. He affirmed Lincoln’s view that the Union should be preserved as a crucial military estimate.
Hodge continued to caution that if emancipation became the war’s greatest goal, it may cause division among Northerners and spark a dramatic social revolution. Hodge understood the Proclamation as a constrained administrative activity, though. Its abolition of slavery didn’t use to the Confederacy that lay under Union defense power, or to the remaining border states that were still in the Union. ( Wholesale freedom came later, in the Thirteenth Amendment of 1865.)
In other words, it was liberal. This summary made it possible for Hodge to change from a nationalist against emancipation to one against emancipation. The majority of Hodge’s Old School Presbyterians acted in his direction. They were taught by the conflict that fanaticism of Southern proslavery had just led to “rebellion, battle, and bloodshed.” Slavery must end, thus.
Creating a More Perfect Union
In his conclusion, Carwardine makes obscene and pointless remarks about the” white evangelical churches” and” studied whiteness” of today. Some Christian visitors might turn off by this. However, I also believe that readers of this caliber will find useful information in Righteous Strife in relation to the” Christian populism” discussion.
Christian ethics have had a significant impact on American laws and traditions since 1776. However, the national Constitution did not officially designate America as a” Christian state,” preferring to emphasize “free exercise” of religion. So where does this keep social transformation in America based on Christian principles?
Christian morality have had a significant impact on American laws and culture. However, the national Constitution did not explicitly designate America as a” Christian country.”
Propagandists have argued that Christian principles are at the center of almost every big political debate in British history. We might wonder how many of those appeals were convincing and earnest. Every noble transformation movements in American history, from reformers to civil rights to the pro-life cause, has been supported by a unique social and religious Christian nationalist discussion.
Righteous Strife reminds viewers of the great good that has come when leaders like Lincoln have appealed to the world’s providential visiting and to the “better angels of our nature,” regardless of whether the name” Christian nationalism” is refundable.
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Originally sourced via trusted media partner. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/righteous-strife/
