Quotes from George C. Rable

a bemused Lincoln noted how he was bombarded with a range of opinions from "religious men" all "equally certain that they represent the Divine will.

Sola scriptura both set and limited the terms for discussing slavery and gave apologists for the institution great advantages.

Indeed, according to one Georgia Baptist editor, it was northern "opposition to plain Biblical teachings, which has dissolved our once glorious Union.

If there ever was a war undertaken in the name of God in his service, at his command, under his approbation, it is the war to which the whole north has risen as one man.

anything the war itself, along with its horrific death toll, made the standard messages of salvation all that more appealing.

After the war, liberal theology, the emergence of the Social Gospel, and a growing faith in science competed with a rising fundamentalism.22

Slavery in one way or another had been central to civil religion in the Union and the Confederacy, and with the coming of peace, the theological questions remained just as knotty.

That slavery had been sanctioned by God, as had the war itself, remained a bedrock position of the churches, the preachers, and the laity.

After reviewing how denominational strife had led to war and while admitting the guilt of many Confederates, a Baptist preacher concluded that "faith once delivered to the Saints has been maintained in its integrity and purity throughout the States of the South.