Constructing religious meaning for children out of the American Civil War
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Authors
McConnell, Kent A.
Issue Date
2001
Volume
3
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Journal Article
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Abstract
This study examines both the content of and mediums used to convey religious meaning to children about the American Civil War. It is particularly concerned with the "lessons" taught in popular literature, children's books, and art during the latter-half of the nineteenth century. While these proscriptive expressions of children's religion illustrate a number of themes, descriptive works, such as diaries and letters from both young and old, convey the ways in which children and youth attempted to reconcile those expressions of religion with what they encountered during the Civil War and Reconstruction. In particular, the research focuses on how concepts of loss and sacrifice were imbued with religious symbolism and ritualized in the lives of children in both private and public settings. Finally, the treatment is also concerned with the relationship between what one historian has called the "politicized" experiences of children from the Civil War era and ideas about reconciliation within America's religious communities in the aftermath of war. It examines the different genres in which these themes were articulated and suggests the problematic nature a civil war posed to the Redeemer Nation.
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Citation
McConnell, Kent A. (2001), Constructing religious meaning for children out of the American Civil War. Journal of Religion & Society, 3.
Publisher
Rabbi Myer and Dorothy Kripke Center, Creighton University
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1522-5658