The Religion of Abraham Lincoln

[Gene C]

Written by William J Wolf, originally titled The Almost Chose People: A Study of the Religion of Abraham Lincoln.
This is a revised edition of that original work, copyright 1963. About 200 pages of text.

Very interesting, but not light reading.

This is the authors approach to this study, from the preface at the bottom of p. 7...
"Now it is possible to accept this core (Collected Woks of Abraham Lincoln)
of confirmed Lincoln utterance and to let Lincoln illuminate his own
religion by his own words. That is the method followed
in this study. It then becomes possible, with Lincoln's own
statements as the norm, to sift with caution those of some
of his contemporaries about his religion, especially those
about his early years. Lincoln won his way to ever deeper
levels of faith in response to family suffering and national
tragedy. His religion was not static, but dynamic in its
development."

With this approach, even though it is over 50 years old, I think this is the best book I have read regarding Lincoln's religious views. For the Lincoln scholar, or anyone interested in this aspect of Lincoln's life and character, I think this is a must have book.

The book covers the religious influences of his early years in KY and IN, his exposure at New Salem to different denominations and their viewpoints, and how different life experiences molded his religious view, all the way through his presidency.

"For most Christians today the Church is their chief avenue
to strength in leading a Christian life and in offering God their worship.
Bible reading and personal experience reinforce for them their basic orientation
continuously being communicated through church life. This institutional element
was lacking to a great degree in Lincoln. The Bible quite apart from the competing churches
was his source of inspiration. Personal experience and reflection would give him ever deeper insights
into the relevance of Scripture for personal decision and for understanding the meaning of history.
The divisiveness of frontier denominationalism left a wound that never fully healed. (p. 42)

There is so much in this book, it is difficult to select a few short sections.

Available on Amazon, this is the edition I have.
(Hardcover 1963 edition - (see all 4 format and editions)

https://www.amazon.com/Religion-Abraham-...iam+J+Wolf

Also available on Internet Archives (this is the text I have)
https://archive.org/details/religionofab...lf/page/n5

[LincolnMan]

Always a most interesting topic when it comes to the study of Lincoln. There are directly opposing views on the matter of his faith and religion. It seems to me that Lincoln changed his views over the course of his life- essentially from disbelief to belief.

[Gene C]

I'm at work right now, but Chapter 2, pages 43-53 of this book addresses that topic, you will find it interesting and enlightening.

https://archive.org/details/religionofab...lf/page/40

[Steve]

Very interesting! Thanks for the review, Gene!

[LincolnMan]

(05-10-2019 09:55 AM)Gene C Wrote:  I'm at work right now, but Chapter 2, pages 43-53 of this book addresses that topic, you will find it interesting and enlightening.

https://archive.org/details/religionofab...lf/page/40

Good stuff Gene!
Another book on the subject I read years ago was authored by Joe Wheeler. If I remember correctly it was entitled: Abraham Lincoln: A Man of Faith and Courage.

[Amy L.]

Not related to this book, but perhaps not worth a new post heading -
Here's a good, compact article with poignant insights on the time Elizabeth Keckly found Lincoln picking up a bible.

What Abraham Lincoln found reading the Book of Job - Finding Comfort in an Unlikely Place

"There is more indirect evidence beyond the episode Ms. Keckley recounts that Mr. Lincoln took the Book of Job to heart. Consider this passage from his Second Inaugural Address—one of his greatest speeches, given in March of 1865, toward the end of his life. Of the two sides in the war, Lincoln said, 'one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.' In his lament before God, Job says, 'neither had I rest, neither was I quiet: Yet trouble came.' The two sentences have remarkably similar structure and phrasing; the Second Inaugural rings out with the rich cadence of the King James Bible."