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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: January 30, 2020 at 12:48:16 PM EST > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Slavery]: Rothera on Holm, 'A Kingdom Divided: > Evangelicals, Loyalty, and Sectionalism in the Civil War Era' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > April E. Holm. A Kingdom Divided: Evangelicals, Loyalty, and > Sectionalism in the Civil War Era. Conflicting Worlds: New > Dimensions of the American Civil War Series. Baton Rouge Louisiana > State University Press, 2017. 288 pp. $47.50 (cloth), ISBN > 978-0-8071-6771-7. > > Reviewed by Evan C. Rothera (University of Arkansas - Fort Smith) > Published on H-Slavery (January, 2020) > Commissioned by Andrew J. Kettler > > Most people today, April E. Holm contends, do not blame churches for > the coming of the US Civil War. However, plenty of people did at the > time. According to Holm, Robert L. Stanton's _The Church and the > Rebellion_ (1864), for instance, claimed that future historians would > take notice of the "'agency of the Church' and the 'zeal of the > ministers of religion' in promoting secession." Holm cautions readers > against brushing such accusations aside as marginal or irrelevant. _A > Kingdom Divided_ employs religion "as a critical lens through which > to analyze sectionalism, war, and reunion. More than simply gazing at > the church's role in causing secession, it examines how religion, > politics, and morality interacted in a time of political crisis to > create lasting institutional and cultural divisions in American > Christianity" (p. 1). Holm begins with the Second Great Awakening, > ends in the Gilded Age, and focuses on three denominations: Baptists, > Methodists, and Presbyterians.[1] These groups experienced tremendous > growth during the early nineteenth century, but by the 1850s, the > issue of slavery divided each denomination into sectional branches. > As the northern and southern branches of each denomination became > increasingly politicized, people living on the border between North > and South, the region that interests Holm, employed a strategy of > neutrality to navigate through the difficulties of sectional > division.[2] > > Holm defines the border as "the area in which, when faced with > divisive political conflicts, evangelicals struggled with the > question of whether they were northern or southern" (p. 7). > Geographically, it encompassed Delaware, Maryland, western Virginia, > Kentucky, Missouri, and portions of every neighboring state. _A > Kingdom Divided_ charts the expansion of the three religions during > the Second Great Awakening, noting that all three shared the same > imperative to evangelize. As one might expect, the western members of > each of the denominations wanted their own religious institutions. > They established newspapers, seminaries, and publishing houses and > accumulated a considerable amount of property. This did not pose a > major problem until the three churches split into sectional branches. > > Evangelical denominations were national organizations and, therefore, > brought people from across the nation into contact with each other. > Consequently, regional differences of belief about slavery, > abolition, and the nature of sin could not be ignored. Churches, like > other US institutions, soon felt the divisive power of the slavery > question. Slavery did not cause the Presbyterian fracture into Old > School and New School branches in 1837, and Holm does not find either > branch explicitly proslavery or antislavery, but most antislavery > Presbyterians ended up in the New School. The Methodists and Baptists > split into northern and southern branches in 1844-45, largely due to > slavery and questions about clergymen owning slaves. The Methodist > Plan of Separation, designed to ease the transition, led instead to > acrimonious property disputes that heightened tensions on the border. > Making a choice about whether to affiliate with the northern or the > southern branch proved comparatively easy for people who lived in > northern or southern states, but for westerners, it was often nearly > impossible and fraught with difficulty. Holm describes how these > sectional divisions created an ecclesiastical border. > > Problematically, for border evangelicals, division did not mean the > end of the disputes, as both the northern and southern branches of > each denomination laid claim to the border region. Border > congregations evaluated ministers by their position on the slavery > question. Disputes over property became legion. Holm includes several > fascinating accounts of churches that proved more than willing to use > the courts to resolve their disputes. Critically, to turn to the > courts, evangelicals had to make their peace with violating the > separation of church and state and committing the sin of schism. > Courts, interestingly enough, often proved hesitant about wading into > denominational squabbles. Some congregations left questions about > affiliation and slavery unresolved. They embraced a doctrine of > spirituality, which emphasized "political neutrality in the pulpit > over expressions of support for the secular government" (p. 81). > Border evangelicals also considered slavery a political issue and > argued that clergy should not express opinions about the subject. At > a time when sectional political debate dominated civil society, > border evangelicals attempted to maintain neutrality. Their problem > became maintaining unity in the face of a deepening rift over > slavery, a task made even more challenging by the events of the > Decade of Crisis. > > The real problem of neutrality became readily apparent during > wartime. Military authorities "enacted measures designed to ensure > the emotional loyalty of the people, not just the political loyalty > of the state" (p. 102). In other words, border clergy maintained that > preaching could be neutral, Union authorities said it could not, and > the results were usually unpleasant. Evangelicals came to represent a > loyal opposition within the northern branches of each of the three > denominations and army officials came to see disloyal ministers as > more threatening than disloyal citizens. Provost marshals wanted > active, not passive, loyalty and they did not hesitate to compel > displays of allegiance. However, attempts to police loyalty often > backfired and arresting clergy generated considerable animosity. > Debates over loyalty, union, and neutrality continued into religious > reconstruction, which began in the final year of the war and lasted > through the end of the decade. "Attempts to redistribute church > property and ensure the loyalty of ministers in occupied areas," Holm > asserts, "not only impeded sectional reunion, they also did much to > alienate border moderates" (p. 125). By the end of the 1860s, border > moderates no longer identified with the northern churches and > established their independence. Although the war ended slavery and > destroyed the Confederacy, it did not mean that many evangelicals > cared any less about these issues. > > Border evangelicals in each of the three denominations moved away > from the northern branch of their respective denominations and > drifted ever closer to the southern churches of their denomination. > Southern branches had to justify their continued independence and an > alliance with the border churches offered benefits. Northern > evangelicals attempted to initiate reunion--and never gave up hope of > reunion--but their overtures produced few results. Decades after > abolition, slavery continued to dominate the discussion and divide > each of the three denominations. In polemical histories, "southerners > downplayed their defense of slavery before the war while northerners > exaggerated their antebellum opposition to slavery" (p. 176). Holm > argues that postwar interactions between evangelicals "provide an > arresting counterpoint to the narrative of postwar reconciliation" > (p. 192). In contrast to other areas of society, which experienced a > growing blue-gray fraternalism, the three denominations remained > divided. > > _A Kingdom Divided_ is a well-written and thought-provoking book. > Holm notes that while the book is principally concerned with > ministers and lay leaders, she nevertheless examined "material from > all ranks of church organizations" (p. 10). At times, her analysis > can seem like a conversation among elites, and one wonders whether > Holm might have brought in more voices from church members and > contemporary observers. In addition, the author notes that white > southern evangelicals complained about northern missionaries > "stealing" black southern evangelicals. These white southerners even > anticipated freedpeople joining their churches. Obviously, this did > not happen, and Holm might have woven more African American voices > into her story of border evangelicals. Nevertheless, this volume is > well worth reading and will interest all students of religion and > politics in the nineteenth-century US. > > Notes > > [1]. For other incisive accounts of evangelicals, see Richard > Carwardine, _Evangelicals and Politics in Antebellum America_ > (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1997); and Christine Leigh > Heyrman, _Southern Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt_ (New > York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997). > > [2]. Holm's book contributes to a rich historiography on religion and > the US Civil War. For other examples, see Mitchell Snay, _Gospel of > Disunion: Religion and Separatism in the Antebellum_ _South_ (New > York: Oxford University Press, 1993); Mark Noll, _The Civil War as a > Theological Crisis_ (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina > Press, 2006); Harry S. Stout, _Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral > History of the American Civil_ War (New York: Viking, 2006); George > C. Rable, _God's Almost Chosen Peoples: A Religious History of the > American Civil War_ (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina > Press, 2010); and Timothy Wesley, _The Politics of Faith during the > Civil War_ (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2013). > > Citation: Evan C. Rothera. Review of Holm, April E., _A Kingdom > Divided: Evangelicals, Loyalty, and Sectionalism in the Civil War > Era_. H-Slavery, H-Net Reviews. January, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54597 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
