For those frustrated with a seemingly biased account of Lincoln's faith in so many current works on his life this book is a must read. I am not a huge Lincoln expert by any means. This was only the fourth book I've read on the man (along with viewing hours of recent History Channel specials). However I was always a little perplexed by the picture painted in most of what I watched and read. Basically I was lead to believe that Lincoln died as some sort of deist, and he definitely didn't believe in the divinity of Christ or the afterlife.
Based on contemporary accounts from the first part of his life I have no reason to doubt that he wasn't a Christian at that time. Neighbors in New Salem said he would read a Bible aloud for the sole purpose of showing it's error. And one neighbor heard him despair that he didn't think there was an afterlife after the death of his beloved Ann.
Now the picture painted by many current scholars goes something like this: in the desperation of Willie's death and the horror of the civil war Lincoln returned to the hyper-Calvinistic view of his childhood and admitted that God was controlling these events and he surrendered himself to this bleak reality and tried to make the best of it he could.
The major problem I've always had with this view is what I read in the writings and speeches of Lincoln himself during his White House years. I know that Lincoln was a politician and all politicians "play to the crowd" to some degree or another. But still something didn't seem to fit. I couldn't see how a man who wrote the Second Inaugural in which both Jesus and the Old Testament are quoted in the way that they are could at the same time not believe those words to be divinely inspired. What credence could you give to the words of Jesus if you believe he was foolishly claiming himself to be God in the flesh? How could you trust or admire anything else he said?
My only disappointment in the otherwise excellent "Team of Rivals" was this biased view of Lincoln's faith creeping in. Doris Kearns Goodwin maintains that Lincoln held to the view that he uttered to a neighbor in New Salem that he didn't think there was an afterlife for his entire life. Lincoln mentioned how unpleasant that thought was at the time. But I find it hard to believe that Lincoln's mind on that didn't change at all, especially from contemporary accounts and conversations he had during the White House years.
And while I immensely enjoyed the Spielberg film "Lincoln", I thought it out of character for Lincoln to use God's name in vain in moments of anger. Once again, I find it hard to swallow that the main who praised God's righteous judgments in the Second Inaugural address would also choose to use "God d--n!" behind closed doors. And I know you can only fit so much into a film but it would have been nice to allude to Lincoln's faith at this time. He stated often that he had many times of private prayer and we know he read from his big leather Bible along with Shakespeare and poetry.
This book confirmed my suspicions in many areas. There is evidence to confirm that the lofty theology in his Second Inaugural was the result of deep searching and changing beliefs in his own heart during the 1850's to some extent and during his White House years to a larger extent. I was shocked when I read what Mary said were ALL of Lincoln's last words were in Ford's Theater the night he was killed. I've been researching Lincoln's faith and never heard of this before.
The book also deals with the Herndon issue. After this book I've come to the conclusion that Herndon simply didn't want to admit that Lincoln would change his views on the Bible and God, and fortunately for Herndon he had many quotes from Lincoln's skeptical years to prove it. But as Herndon himself admitted Lincoln kept things to himself often. In some ways I find similarities between Lincoln's journey of faith and that of C.S. Lewis. Lewis was initially repelled by the Christian faith, which he saw as an appalling anti-intellectual worldview. Also interesting to note is that both Lincoln and Lewis lost their mother at a young age, so they had emotional reasons for rejecting the Christian faith as well. But the change came for Lewis very slowly, a little piece at a time. Lewis stated that he doesn't even remember the exact moment when it happened, but he came to believe in the God of the Bible. I think this book shows that Lincoln's change was, like Lewis', slow but sure. I think it's also worth noting that C.S. Lewis believed that much of the early Old Testament was myth meant to illustrate a deeper truth. From what I've read Lincoln believed that more of the Old Testament was literal than C.S. Lewis did! Now Lincoln didn't speak publicly about Christ much at all, but as Mansfield notes in this work, that's no indication that he didn't believe it.
I know scholars on the other side of the fence will scoff at the view presented in this book and maintain that those certain White House years accounts all have their own reasons for not being trusted. But Mansfield has an excellent commentary on this at the end of the book also. I also find it interesting that James Cornelius, curator of the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, himself a definite Lincoln egg head, gave this book such a glowing endorsement. It's nice to know that I'm not alone in believing that Lincoln was much further developed in his faith than what I've been lead to belief.
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Top reviews from other countries
Golden Slumber
Lincoln from a Different Angle
Reviewed in Canada on February 22, 2014rhysmc
Well researched, relatively impartial, and skilfully told
Reviewed in Canada on September 27, 2014