Of saints and sinners: religion and the Civil War and Reconstruction novel
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Authors
Blum, Edward J.
Issue Date
2002
Volume
4
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Journal Article
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Abstract
Exploring religious themes, idioms, and language in Albion Tourgée's and Thomas Dixon Jr.'s most noteworthy novels on the Civil War and Reconstruction, this study suggests that religion provided a critically important medium to discuss sectional and race relations. Attention to religion exposes both differences<em>and</em>similarities in these texts. While Dixon described northern faith as corrupt, Tourgée viewed southern Christianity as hypocritical; although Dixon mocked northern missionaries as blunderers, Tourgée praised them as angels sent from heaven. But the authors shared several positions as well. They depicted the Ku Klux Klan as a quasi-religious organization, acknowledged the position of southern churches as locations of cultural hegemony, and believed that religion must play a role in regional reconciliation. Ultimately, this study challenges historians and literary critics to move beyond mere examinations of the racial and gender issues in Tourgée's and Dixon's novels by demonstrating how sectional, racial, and gender ideologies were often explained and mediated by religious beliefs and language.
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Citation
Blum, Edward J. (2002), Of saints and sinners: religion and the Civil War and Reconstruction novel. Journal of Religion & Society, 4.
Publisher
Rabbi Myer and Dorothy Kripke Center, Creighton University
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ISSN
1522-5658