MYRNA BROWN, HOST:
Right this moment is Tuesday, March seventh.
Thanks for turning to WORLD Radio to assist begin your day.
Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.
NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.
Coming subsequent on The World and All the pieces in It: our
Traditional Ebook of the Month for March. Reviewer Emily Whitten says a brand new
version of a traditional biography appears clearly an excellent match for historical past
buffs, but additionally for anybody who desires to know the actual secret of American greatness.
SAVING LINCOLN:
4 rating and 7 years in the past, our fathers introduced forth upon this
continent a brand new nation, conceived in liberty and devoted to the
proposition that every one males are created equal.
EMILY WHITTEN, REVIEWER: That’s a clip of The Gettysburg Deal with from the 2012 film, Saving Lincoln.
Perhaps you memorized that speech as a child…or perhaps you’re memorizing it
with your individual children nowadays…maybe a musical model like this one on
Sandy Wilbur’s Youtube channel.
SOUND: [THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS SONG]
Whereas some right this moment are toppling statues, Abraham Lincoln
stays a hero for many people. However as Christians, what are we to make of
Lincoln? I hope our Traditional Ebook of the Month may help reply that
query. It’s titled Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President, and
it’s by Princeton College’s Allen C. Guelzo, who’s additionally a dedicated
Christian. Guelzo at present serves as Princeton’s Director of the
Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship within the James Madison Program.
GUELZO:
I wrote my dissertation not on Abraham Lincoln, however on Jonathan Edwards. And I totally anticipated
that what I’d proceed to do be to write down about 18th century ethical
philosophy, particularly about Edwards. However a detour opened up.
That detour started with a telephone name from a writer,
asking him to write down about Lincoln. At first, he resisted, however finally
he got here round to the idea of an “mental biography,” treating
Lincoln as a person of concepts. Eerdmans printed the e-book in 1999.
GUELZO:
I take as one thing of a guiding star that verse from the Psalms, as a
man thinks in his coronary heart, so is he. And in some ways I take that and I
apply it to Lincoln. I wish to know what was in Lincoln’s core. What
have been these concepts and the way did they work themselves out.
In Guelzo’s telling, Abraham Lincoln grows up studying the
Bible, however he turns away from Christianity early on. His father is a
Calvinist, however he and Lincoln have very completely different temperaments and his
father is typically abusive. In a while, Lincoln reads authors like Thomas
Paine who strengthen his early skepticism.
GUELZO:
Lincoln pays a sure diploma of respect to Christianity, however he
will not take part in it. He by no means joins the church. Now we have no report of
him ever taking communion, being baptized or something like that.
For some time, Lincoln appears to place his religion in political
concepts of progress. He embraces authors like John Stuart Mill and Whig
politicians like Henry Clay. And in case you’re not sure what a Whig truly
is, no worry—Guelzo defines such phrases and helps readers perceive nineteenth
century battles over tariffs, slavery, and the concept of markets and “free
labor.”
Later in life, Lincoln does soften his public skepticism of
Christianity. When The Civil Warfare turns into a bloody quagmire, Lincoln
begins to see the God of Windfall in a brand new manner—prompting him to free
many slaves.
GUELZO:
He says, I’m nearly able to say that what it means is that God has a
objective on this struggle past simply victory for the north or the south.
One thing else is in play right here. And it isn’t too laborious to guess what’s at
the again of his thoughts, he is interested by emancipation.
Guelzo says he obtained his title–Redeemer President–from a Walt
Whitman poem. He thinks it’s an excellent descriptor as a result of Lincoln was a
man of nice irony. By serving to to finish slavery in America, Lincoln hoped
to provide the nation a brand new start—to understand the liberty of the Declaration
of Independence for a lot of People.
GUELZO:
He redeemed the promise of the founders. He made it reside once more. He obtained
it up from its mattress of illness that the civil struggle had consigned it to.
43:20 And but the irony is that he couldn’t declare redemption himself.
Guelzo concludes that, sadly, Lincoln in all probability by no means got here “the entire strategy to perception” in Christ.
Total, Guelzo’s writing isn’t as gripping as somebody like David McCullough. However Guelzo is extra theologically astute. And his depiction of Lincoln’s final days and hours is particularly shifting.
Since 1999, debates over slavery and America’s historical past have solely intensified. Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President,
our Traditional Ebook of the Month, can equip us to hitch that debate correctly.
Finally, whereas Lincoln wasn’t a Christian, his greatest concepts nonetheless
supply People a lot price striving for.
SAVING LINCOLN:
We right here extremely resolve that these lifeless shall not have died in useless —
that this nation, beneath God, shall have a brand new start of freedom — and
that authorities of the folks, by the folks, for the folks, shall not
perish from the earth.
I’m Emily Whitten.
WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This textual content might not be in its remaining type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability might range. The authoritative report of WORLD Radio programming is the audio report.
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