Broken Churches Broken Nation

In the first comprehensive treatment of the role of churches in the processes that led to the American Civil War, C.C. Goen suggests that when Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist churches divided along lines of North and South in the antebellum controversy over slavery, they severed an important bond of national union. The forebodings of church leaders and other contemporary observers about the probability of disastrous political consequences were well-founded. The denominational schisms, as irreversible steps along the nation's tortuous course to violence, were both portent and catalyst to the imminent national tragedy. Caught in a quagmire of conflicting purposes, church leadership failed and Christian community broke down, presaging in a scenario of secession and conflict the impending crisis of the Union. As the churches chose sides over the supremely transcendent moral issue of slavery, so did the nation. Professor Goen, an eminent historian of American religion, does not seek in these pages the "causes" of the Civil War. Rather, he establishes evangelical Christianity as "a major bond of national unity" in antebellum America. His careful analysis and critical interpretation demonstrate that antebellum American churches -- committed to institutional growth, swayed by sectional interests, and silent about racial prejudice -- could neither contain nor redirect the awesome forces of national dissension. Their failure sealed the nation's fate. - Publisher.

The first comprehensive work of its kind, David Rolfs' No Peace for the Wicked sheds new light on the Northern Protestant soldiers' religious worldview and the various ways they used it to justify and interpret their wartime experiences. Drawing extensively from the letters, diaries and published collections of hundreds of religious soldiers, Rolfs effectively resurrects both these soldiers' religious ideals and their most profound spiritual doubts and conflicts. No Peace for the Wicked also explores the importance of "just war" theory in the formulation of Union military strategy and tactics, and examines why the most religious generation in U.S. history fought America's bloodiest war. --from publisher description.

Christian Thought in America: A Brief History is a short, accessible overview of the history of Christian thought in America, from the Puritans and other colonials to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Moving chronologically, each chapter addresses a historical segment, focusing on key movements and figures and tracing general trends and developments. The book conveys a sense of the liveliness and creativity of the ongoing theological debates. Each chapter concludes with a short bibliography of recent scholarship for further reading.

America is a nation divided to the extent that some are comparing it to the pre-Civil War era of the 1860s. That Civil War was violent, bloody, and hateful; and yet when it ended, America was almost immediately restored as one nation under God. It ended not without deep and enduring scars, but as a nation reunited well enough to become the industrialized leader of the free world for decades to come. We have always been divided socially, economically, and politically; but we have always been a nation united by our faith in the Christian God, the Creator of the universe and all that is within. The source of America's current divisiveness is ideological, propagated by those who embrace a globalist, pluralist code that carries a vision of one world apart from God. This doctrine has permeated our media, academia, sciences, and now even our churches. It is based purely on the premise that we can bring harmony and social equality to planet earth through humanist methods and that the human intellect has progressed beyond the need for mythical belief in a metaphysical god--specifically, the Christian God, the Creator of the physical universe. This is the same lie that deceived Eve in the garden of Eden, which led to the fall of man. The purpose of this writing is to restore a biblical worldview that has been lost within the twenty-first-century American Christian church. As our culture crumbles around us, 350,000 churches stand by seemingly disengaged from the darkness that has engulfed our nation. America used to be a beacon of light for the world. This was the vision that our Founding Fathers carried with them to America, and its source was from their faith in the Christian God. So what is happening to America, and why isn't the church having any effect upon the state of our union? This is a call for members of the body of Christ to reignite, reunite, and reestablish the light that can only be kindled within our individual commitment to remain in Christ; to commit an hour or so each day to be alone with our Creator in the Most Holy place--feeding, cleansing, and renewing our souls. Just you and God. The current grace-based doctrine of the modern Christian church has dumbed down the intricacies and treasures found within the contents of the Holy Bible to having little more significance than a bumper sticker. We read books written by other humans that tell us about the Bible; we read daily devotionals that cherry-pick scripture to make us feel good. However, few--if any of us--are actually committing to daily holy communion with God through his Word, the Holy Bible (all of it), and spending time in prayer in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Author Mark Noll presents the unfolding drama of American Christianity with accuracy and skill, from the first European settlements to ecumenism in the late 20th Century. This work has become a standard in the field of North American religious history.

While many white Baptists from Middle Georgia marched off to war others stayed behind and voiced their thoughts from pulpits, in associational meetings, and in the pages of newspapers and journals. While historians have often portrayed white southern Baptists, with few exceptions, as firmly supportive of the Confederacy, the experience of Middle Georgia Baptists is much more dynamic. Far from being monolithic, Baptists at the local church and associational level responded in a myriad of ways to the Confederacy.

Essays discuss proslavery arguments in the churches, the urge toward compromise and unity, the coming of schisms in the various denominations, and the role of local conditions in determining policies

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.