Description
Book SynopsisLucas Morel examines what the public life of Abraham Lincoln teaches about the role of religion in a self-governing society. Lincoln''s understanding of the requirements of republican government led him to accommodate and direct religious sentiment toward responsible self-government. As a successful republic requires a moral or self-controlled people, Lincoln believed, the moral and religious sensibilities of a society should be nurtured.
Trade ReviewMorel has produced a solid, useful addition to the Lincoln literature. -- Professor Michael Burlingame, Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois-Springfield and author of Abraham Lincoln: A Life * North Carolina Historical Review *
Morel's work draws considerably—as he acknowledges—from Crisis of the House Divided, my book on the Lincoln-Douglas debates published forty years ago, especially from the chapters on the Lyceum and Temperance speeches. However, Morel gives a thoroughly fresh reading of those speeches, and discovers in them dozens of biblical references, allusions, and paraphrases that I had not noticed or identified. In addition, he locates these texts within the framework of church history and church controversycontemporaneous with Lincoln. How Lincoln negotiated his way amidst sectarian differences, enlisting religious dispositions for non-sectarian political ends, especially in his Second Inaugural, is described with great sensitivity and great precision.I can say candidly that I learned a great deal from reading this book.. -- Harry V. Jaffa, Philosophy Emeritus, Claremont McKenna College and Claremont Graduate School
Morel's work draws considerably—as he acknowledges—from Crisis of the House Divided, my book on the Lincoln-Douglas debates published forty years ago, especially from the chapters on the Lyceum and Temperance speeches. However, Morel gives a thoroughly fresh reading of those speeches, and discovers in them dozens of biblical references, allusions, and paraphrases that I had not noticed or identified. In addition, he locates these texts within the framework of church history and church controversy contemporaneous with Lincoln. How Lincoln negotiated his way amidst sectarian differences, enlisting religious dispositions for non-sectarian political ends, especially in his Second Inaugural, is described with great sensitivity and great precision. I can say candidly that I learned a great deal from reading this book. -- Harry V. Jaffa, Philosophy Emeritus, Claremont McKenna College and Claremont Graduate School
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Religious Politics and Political Religion Chapter 3 The Political Utility of Religion Chapter 4 The Political Accommodation of Religion Chapter 5 The Political Vices of Religion: An Interpretation of the Temperance Address Chapter 6 The Political Limits of Reason and Religion: An Interpretation of the Second Inaugural Address
