At times, war and religion mix uneasily in the South. Many Southern Baptists publicly and repeatedly frame the war as a holy conflict in which the Confederacy is God’s kingdom on earth, destined to prevail over the evil North. Yet others–sometimes the same individuals–lament that the war has brought about a lack of interest in…
Published in this week’s North Carolina Baptist Biblical Recorder is the testimony of a Confederate soldier, a testimony that reflects common evangelistic language and imagery among Baptists of the South. I belonged to a Virginia regiment, engaged in active service, in the mountains, far away from friends and home. I was surrounded by wicked and…
Even as Baptists on the southern home front complain about the evils of army camp life, they eagerly look for evidence that the distribution of religious literature among soldiers is pushing back the spiritual darkness so rampant. One report from a Confederate colporter is making the rounds: A colporter, laboring among the Confederate forces in…