History

Top 12 Resources on Christianity and the Civil War

Christian History editors asked Dr. Charles Reagan Wilson to recommend books that creatively explore Christianity during the Civil War era. Here’s his list.

1. William W. Bennett, A Narrative of the Great Revival Which Prevailed in the Southern Armies … (Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger, 1877). The author, who led the Methodist Soldiers’ Tract Association, describes prayer meetings and conversions.

2. James Farmer, The Metaphysical Confederacy: James Henley Thornwell and the Synthesis of Southern Values (South Carolina, 1982). Though not exactly a full biography of this important southern leader, the book covers well Thornwell’s role in religion and politics.

3. Drew Gilpin Faust, “Christian Soldiers: The Meaning of Revivalism in the Confederate Armies.Journal of Southern History, Vol. 53 (1987). A scholarly examination of religion among the southern troops.

4. C.C. Goen, Broken Churches, Broken Nation: Denominational Schisms and the Coming of the Civil War (Mercer, 1985). A clear look at the controversies that, in Goen’s words, “set Northern and Southern Christianity on divergent courses.”

5. Victor Howard, Religion & the Radical Republican Movement (Kentucky, 1990). A good recent work.

6. J. William Jones, Christ in the Camp; or, Religion in Lee’s Army (Richmond: J.W. Randolph & English, 1880). A chaplain in the Army of Northern Virginia gives eyewitness accounts of revival.

7. John R. McKivigan, The War against Proslavery Religion: Abolitionism and the Northern Churches, 1830–1865 (Cornell, 1984). Describes the tumultuous move toward abolition in the North.

8. James H. Moorhead, American Apocalypse: Yankee Protestants and the Civil War, 1860–1869 (Yale, 1978). Details well the widespread belief that northern success would usher in “the coming of the Lord.”

9. Robert Manson Myers, ed., The Children of Pride: A True Story of Georgia and the Civil War (Yale, 1972). An engrossing collection of letters by Charles Colcock Jones, Sr., an influential Presbyterian minister from Georgia. Jones defended slavery, yet evangelized the slaves, gaining the title “Apostle to the Blacks.”

10. Albert J. Raboteau, Slave Religion: The ‘Invisible Institution’ in the Antebellum South (Oxford, 1978). A fine social history.

11. Gardiner H. Shattuck, Jr., A Shield and a Hiding Place: The Religious Life of the Civil War Armies (Mercer, 1987). Describes the significant and varied religious experiences of Civil War troops.

12. William J. Wolf, The Almost Chosen People: A Study of the Religion of Abraham Lincoln (Doubleday, 1959). Still one of the best studies of Lincoln’s religion.

Editors’ Bonus Recommendation: For a packet of facsimiles of evangelistic tracts used during the Civil War, send a donation to: Mission for Jesus Christ, P.O. Box 2915, Merrifield, VA 22116.

Dr. Wilson is professor of history and Southern studies at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. He is also author of Baptism in Blood: The Religion of the Lost Cause, 1865–1920 (Georgia, 1980).

Our Latest

News

Ghana May Elect Its First Muslim President. Its Christian Majority Is Torn.

Church leaders weigh competency and faith background as the West African nation heads to the polls.

Shamanism in Indonesia

Can Christians practice ‘white knowledge’ to heal the sick and exorcize demons?

Shamanism in Japan

Christians in the country view pastors’ benedictions as powerful spiritual mantras.

Shamanism in Taiwan

In a land teeming with ghosts, is there room for the Holy Spirit to work?

Shamanism in Vietnam

Folk religion has shaped believers’ perceptions of God as a genie in a lamp.

Shamanism in the Philippines

Filipinos’ desire to connect with the supernatural shouldn’t be eradicated, but transformed and redirected toward Christ.

Shamanism in South Korea

Why Christians in the country hold onto trees while praying outdoors.

Shamanism in Thailand

When guardian spirits disrupt river baptisms, how can believers respond?

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube