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