Gospel of Disunion: Religion and Separatism in the Antebellum South

by Mitchell Snay

Overview

This book examines the ways in which religion influenced the development of a distinctive Southern culture and politics before the Civil War.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521431224
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/29/1993
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.22(w) x 9.33(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

Mitchell Snay is associate professor of history at Denison University.

Table of Contents

Introduction. Religion and the search for Southern distinctiveness; Part I. Religion and Sectional Politics: 1. The abolitionist crisis of 1835: the issues defined; Part II. Religion and Slavery: 2. Slavery defended: the morality of slavery and the infidelity of abolitionism; 3. Slavery sanctified: the slaveholding ethic and the religious mission to the slaves; Part III. Religion and Separatism: 4. Harbingers of disunion: the denominational schisms, 5. The religious logic of secession; 6. Religion and the formation of a Southern nationalism and the coming of the Civil War.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

A major contribution to clarifying what increasingly seems like a fundamental cause of the war: the differing ideologies, North and South, with religious values playing a key part in providing moral meanings to both sides in a sectional struggle that would lead to war.—Charles Reagan Wilson, American Historical Review

Snay utilizes a broad range of primary sources to portray and analyze the religious dimension of this momentous rupture in the political landscape of the nation, and he does so with analytical precision. . . . [His] convincing interpretation is also written in clear, uncluttered prose. . . . The result is a work of interest and importance to most southern historians, not just specialists in religion.—John B. Boles, Georgia Historical Quarterly

Gospel of Disunion brings together all the recent scholarship in a most accessible and congenial synthesis. More important, the author has invested his own intelligence and interpretive skill to give the study a vital spirit of its own.—Bertram Wyatt-Brown, Reviews in American History

Editorial Reviews

"Gospel of Disunion" brings together all the recent scholarship in a most accessible and congenial synthesis.

Bertram Wyatt-Brown, "Reviews in American History"

A major contribution to clarifying what increasingly seems like a fundamental cause of the war.

Charles Reagan Wilson, "American Historical Review"

Snay utilizes a broad range of primary sources to portray and analyze the religious dimension of this momentous rupture.

John B. Boles, "Georgia Historical Quarterly"

""Gospel of Disunion" brings together all the recent scholarship in a most accessible and congenial synthesis.

Bertram Wyatt-Brown, "Reviews in American History""

"A major contribution to clarifying what increasingly seems like a fundamental cause of the war.

Charles Reagan Wilson, "American Historical Review""

"Snay utilizes a broad range of primary sources to portray and analyze the religious dimension of this momentous rupture.

John B. Boles, "Georgia Historical Quarterly""

From the Publisher