The Civil War as a Theological Crisis

The Civil War as a Theological Crisis

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.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Educational read
Very interesting topic-the Civil War, the North and the South and how they defended their perspective regarding slavery and the Bible.

5 Stars Noll does it again…
Great stuff, I don't have the time to review this, because I'm writting for a Phd and using several of Noll's books. This one (for me) is valuable because it sets the scene for American Evangelicalism up to the period/person I'm working on…as do other's of Noll's works.

5 Stars "an unbridgeable chasm of opinion"
This is the book that every Protestant evangelical who invokes "the sole authority of Scripture," and who insists upon the "simplicity," "plain meaning," and "clarity" of its message, should read. I wish a similar monograph had existed when I was in seminary, and that my professors had made me read it as a case study in hermeneutics (the study of the interpretation of Scripture). Why instead of unanimity was there an "interpretive standoff" regarding slavery among Protestant believers, an "unbridgeable chasm of opinion" that tore the nation in two? Why was the evil of slavery eradicated not by the theological arguments of Christians but by the military might of armies? How can you argue against slavery when both the Old Testament and New Testament condone it?

Mark Noll, for over twenty-five years a professor at Wheaton College and now at Notre Dame, examines a broad diversity of religious viewpoints– mainly American Protestant, but also foreign Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic (both American and foreign) — about the theological crisis provoked by slavery. This was a question partly about what the Bible said (how to interpret the Bible), and partly about what God was doing in history (providence). Disagreements about what the Bible said about slavery, Noll demonstrates, were deeply influenced by American assumptions about common sense rationalism, economic individualism, race, gender, and political democracy (which is why his two chapters on Protestant and Catholic opinions abroad are so helpful). Even worse, the far deeper issue of racism was barely broached; people separated "the slavery question" and "the negro question." No one in their wildest imagination considered the enslavement of whites (as in OT and NT times), even if they thought it acceptable to enslave blacks, and so even though the war abolished slavery, horrific racism and its evil twin economic disenfranchisement continued unabated. Finally, interpreting the ancient text and applying it to our contemporary context was further complicated by the Protestant insistence that there's no authority above the Bible itself, which was another way of saying that everyone and no one had the ultimate authority to say definitively "what the Bible means" about slavery.

It's a short step from Noll's theological case study about slavery to virtually every other important issue that Christians face–women's ordination, homosexuality, abortion, politics, economics, and race. The Scriptures, said the Westminster divines, are "most necessary" for Christian faith and life, and every believer ought to study them often and well. But as Noll shows, earnest appeals to the authority of Scripture, however necessary and well-intentioned, are the beginning and not the end of the serious work of studying the Bible and then living according to the letter and spirit of its message.

5 Stars bookreader
This book is an excellent resource for understanding the origins of all slavery, not just the slavery of the black people. It explains the root causes of the Civil war due to differing views of the meaning of the Bible and the workings of providence prior to the Civil War. I would recommend this book very highly.

5 Stars A disturbing examination of the church's failure
Noll has done a splendid job identifying the theological considerations that neutralized the ability of Christians to help the nation avoid the recourse to arms to settle the slavery question. His examination of how various Christian leaders, north and south, viewed divine providence is enough to make anyone uncomfortable with a self-assured approach to understanding the ways of God. His inclusion of European theological perspectives on slavery and the American scene are an added treat. This is a fine book.

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One Response to “The Civil War as a Theological Crisis”

1. Dakota O'Leary says:

   April 20, 2009 at 11:06 pm

   This book is valuable for understanding why the governor of Texas would bring up that he wants to secede from the Union, and why the South is so entrenched in the type of theological thought it is. There is a collective sense that God punished the South and that is why they lost the Civil War, and why they are intent on "rising again."

   Reply

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