Revolution

Rooted in painstaking analysis of more than 17,000 biblical citations, Byrd, a professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, argues that the Bible was a powerful force in fomenting patriotism during the American Revolution. Ministers and army chaplains in the early republic defended the war through scripture. They drew upon particular passages and biblical figures like Moses, David, and Deborah to justify war and to translate the revolution’s meaning to ordinary Americans. Most importantly, Byrd argues, preaching scripture about virtuous heroes like Peter and Paul helped persuade soldiers to overcome their aversion to dying and killing. While Byrd’s research is thorough and his writing impassioned, less convincing is his claim that the Bible’s common stories about civil authority and freedom, martyrdom and sacrifice, and spiritual warfare enabled Americans to view the revolution as a sacred obligation. The book draws primarily on what ministers wrote and spoke, and although most Americans were familiar with the Bible at this time, we learn comparatively less about how ordinary people understood war as biblically sanctioned. (June)