Recent studies of religion during the Civil War period have revealed an underlying theme: a widespread belief in both North and South in a particular and deterministic divine providence. In this essay, and drawing especially upon George C. Rable’s God’s Almost Chosen Peoples: A Religious History of the American Civil War, Dr. Bender outlines the details of this doctrine and argues that its intrinsic weaknesses and problems played a part in the unraveling of a Christian understanding of history in the post-war period in America. The Civil War thus stands as an important marker and event in the history of the secularization of American culture and the receding of Christian witness within and influence upon it.
The End of the Reformation Has News of Its Demise Been Greatly Exaggerated?
In light of recent ecumenical discussions and achievements, many are asking to what extent historic theological divisions between Catholics and Protestants have now been overcome. This essay approaches this question by examining the recent study by Mark Noll and Carolyn Nystrom entitled Is The Reformation Over? An Evangelical Assessment of Contemporary Roman Catholicism. The present essay argues that while much progress has been made in the dialogue between Roman Catholics and Protestants in general and evangelicals in particular, issues of ecclesiology will continue to divide the communions for the foreseeable future, and that these issues resist resolution precisely because they are ultimately Christological as well as ecclesiological. This essay attempts to shed light on these Christological and ecclesiological differences.