Lincoln's God: how faith transformed a president and a nation
Description
"Lincoln's wartime spiritual journey from heretic son and cold skeptic to America's first evangelical Christian president, the role his conversion played in the Civil War, and the way it in turn transformed Protestantism. Abraham Lincoln, unlike most of his political brethren, kept organized Christianity at arm's length. He never joined a church and only sometimes attended Sunday services with his wife. But as he came to appreciatee the growing political and military importance of the Christian churches, and when death touched the Lincoln household in an awful, intimate way, the erstwhile skeptic effectively evolved into the nation's first evangelical president. The war, he told Americans, was in some fashion divine retribution for the sin of slavery. This is the story of that transformation and the ways in which religion helped millions of Northerners interpret the carnage and political upheaval of the 1850s and 1860s. Rather than focus on battles and personalities, Joshua Zeitz probes the social impact of the war on Northerners' spiritual worldview and the impact of this religious transformation on the war effort itself. Characters include the famous--Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, Henry Ward Beecher--and ordinary soldiers and their families whose evolving understanding of mortality and heaven and beliefs about mission motivated them to fight. Long underestimated in accounts of the Civil War, religion--specifically evangelical Christianity--played an instrumental role on the battlefield and home front, and in the corridors of government. More than any president before him-or any president after, until George W. Bush-Lincoln harnessed popular religious enthusiasm to build broad-based support for a political party and a cause. He did so as a master politician and sincere believer, though his belief was characteristically heterodox-and widely misunderstood then, as now. After his death and the end of an unforgiving war, Americans needed to memorialize Lincoln as a Christian martyr. The truth was, of course, considerably more complicated, as this original book explores"--
Subjects
Subjects
Christianity
Christianity and politics
Christianity and politics -- United States -- History -- 19th century
History
Lincoln, Abraham
Lincoln, Abraham, -- 1809-1865 -- Religion
Presidents
Presidents -- Religious life -- United States
Religion
Religious aspects
Religious life
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Religious aspects -- Christianity
United States -- Religion -- 19th century
Christianity and politics
Christianity and politics -- United States -- History -- 19th century
History
Lincoln, Abraham
Lincoln, Abraham, -- 1809-1865 -- Religion
Presidents
Presidents -- Religious life -- United States
Religion
Religious aspects
Religious life
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Religious aspects -- Christianity
United States -- Religion -- 19th century
More Details
ISBN:
9781984882219
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Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | bf877fd9-d68a-ab1f-0113-ce7b3e981e8b |
---|---|
Grouping Title | lincolns god how faith transformed a president and a nation |
Grouping Author | joshua zeitz |
Grouping Category | book |
Grouping Language | English (eng) |
Last Grouping Update | 2024-05-07 16:51:15PM |
Last Indexed | 2024-05-07 23:01:40PM |
Solr Fields
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0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
0
author
Zeitz, Joshua
author_display
Zeitz, Joshua
display_description
"Lincoln's wartime spiritual journey from heretic son and cold skeptic to America's first evangelical Christian president, the role his conversion played in the Civil War, and the way it in turn transformed Protestantism. Abraham Lincoln, unlike most of his political brethren, kept organized Christianity at arm's length. He never joined a church and only sometimes attended Sunday services with his wife. But as he came to appreciatee the growing political and military importance of the Christian churches, and when death touched the Lincoln household in an awful, intimate way, the erstwhile skeptic effectively evolved into the nation's first evangelical president. The war, he told Americans, was in some fashion divine retribution for the sin of slavery. This is the story of that transformation and the ways in which religion helped millions of Northerners interpret the carnage and political upheaval of the 1850s and 1860s. Rather than focus on battles and personalities, Joshua Zeitz probes the social impact of the war on Northerners' spiritual worldview and the impact of this religious transformation on the war effort itself. Characters include the famous--Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, Henry Ward Beecher--and ordinary soldiers and their families whose evolving understanding of mortality and heaven and beliefs about mission motivated them to fight. Long underestimated in accounts of the Civil War, religion--specifically evangelical Christianity--played an instrumental role on the battlefield and home front, and in the corridors of government. More than any president before him-or any president after, until George W. Bush-Lincoln harnessed popular religious enthusiasm to build broad-based support for a political party and a cause. He did so as a master politician and sincere believer, though his belief was characteristically heterodox-and widely misunderstood then, as now. After his death and the end of an unforgiving war, Americans needed to memorialize Lincoln as a Christian martyr. The truth was, of course, considerably more complicated, as this original book explores"--
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Books
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Book
id
bf877fd9-d68a-ab1f-0113-ce7b3e981e8b
isbn
9781984882219
itype_eh
ADULT BOOK
last_indexed
2024-05-08T05:01:40.198Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
Non Fiction
literary_form_full
Non Fiction
local_time_since_added_eh
Year
primary_isbn
9781984882219
publishDate
2023
publisher
Viking
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Christianity and politics -- United States -- History -- 19th century
Lincoln, Abraham, -- 1809-1865 -- Religion
Presidents -- Religious life -- United States
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Religious aspects -- Christianity
United States -- Religion -- 19th century
Lincoln, Abraham, -- 1809-1865 -- Religion
Presidents -- Religious life -- United States
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Religious aspects -- Christianity
United States -- Religion -- 19th century
title_display
Lincoln's God : how faith transformed a president and a nation
title_full
Lincoln's God : how faith transformed a president and a nation / Joshua Zeitz
title_short
Lincoln's God
title_sub
how faith transformed a president and a nation
topic_facet
Christianity
Christianity and politics
History
Lincoln, Abraham
Presidents
Religion
Religious aspects
Religious life
Christianity and politics
History
Lincoln, Abraham
Presidents
Religion
Religious aspects
Religious life
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ils:.b27434060 | .i68629217 | Essex Adult Nonfiction | 973.7 ZEI | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | exan |
record_details
Bib Id | Format | Format Category | Edition | Language | Publisher | Publication Date | Physical Description | Abridged |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ils:.b27434060 | Book | Books | English | Viking | 2023 | xix, 313 pages ; 24 cm |
scoping_details_eh
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ils:.b27434060 | .i68629217 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | false | 9999 |