Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 65:2 (Jun 2022)
Article: Evangelicals, Justice, And The Civil War
Author: Obbie Tyler Todd

JETS 65:2 (June 2022) p. 207

Evangelicals, Justice, And The Civil War

Obbie Tyler Todd*

^* Obbie Tyler Todd is Pastor of Third Baptist Church of Marion, 1102 E. Boulevard Street, Marion, IL 62959. He is also adjunct professor of theology at Luther Rice College and Seminary, 3038 Evans Mill Road, Stonecrest, GA 30038. He may be contacted at [email protected].

Abstract: The intimate relationship between justice and liberty in the early US republic has been well documented by historians. However, less understood is how these patriotic arguments were co-opted by pro-slavery theologians using the same republican principles, and, in turn, how concepts of justice developed within the evangelical community before and after the Civil War. This article explains how Northern and Southern evangelicals adapted and applied their concepts of justice to suit their beliefs about slavery. It also demonstrates how the fractured nation after 1865 eventually forced theologians to pursue other models of justice that de-emphasized the common good. The result was the end of public justice as it had been traditionally conceived in the revolutionary and post-revolutionary generations.

Key words: evangelicals, justice, public justice, slavery, abolitionism, American Revolution, Civil War

In 1853, one year after her wildly successful Uncle Tom’s Cabin awakened the American conscience to the evils of slavery, Harriet Beecher Stowe prepared to meet the man southern evangelicals referred to as “the father of New England abolition,” William Lloyd Garrison.1 Although partners in the anti-slavery cause, the Quaker Garrison and the daughter of famed Presbyterian minister Lyman Beecher had significant theological differences that worried Stowe, whose abolitionism was not as extreme as Garrison’s. Consequently, upon their meeting, Stowe immediately addressed her concerns with the fiery editor of the weekly newspaper The Liberator. She asked abruptly, “Mr. Garrison, are you a Christian?” He replied that her question was too vague. “Well,” she persisted, “are you such a Christian as I am?” But Garrison replied that this question was even more vague. Finally, Stowe struck at the heart of what she perceived to be the essence of her Christian faith: “Well, Mr. Garrison, do you believe in the atonement?”2 While Garrison hardly expounded upon the penal substitutionary nature of Christ’s death, his answer nevertheless satisfied Stowe. Further, it demonstrates just how important were concepts like sin, guilt, and especially justice to American evangelicals in the years before and after the Civil War.You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
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