In his Lyceum Address of 1838, a young Lincoln called for a “political religion” to be “preached from the pulpit.” In his Second Inaugural, a more mature Lincoln called for “firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right.” And throughout the Civil War, he invoked the nation’s “political faith” against what he saw as the twin evils of disunion and slavery. In the midst of another presidential campaign waged during another war, what’s the current relevance of Lincoln’s invocations of divine authority? Bluntly if impossibly put, could he get by with similar beliefs and language today? More specifically if ironically put, are the greatest threats to Lincoln’s approach presently emanating from several pulpits themselves around the country where an audacity of hatred has been out-thundering an audacity of hope? A political scientist at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, Joseph Fornieri is the author of Abraham Lincoln’s Political Faith and Lincoln’s American Dream, among other celebrated books. American Experiment Members: $25 To register via mail please send a check or credit card information to: |
