The Bible told them so : how Southern Evangelicals fought to preserve white supremacy / J. Russell Hawkins.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hawkins, J. Russell, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Segregation--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Segregation.

Segregation--South Carolina--History--20th century.

Christians, White--South Carolina--History.

Christians, White.

White supremacy movements--Religious aspects--Christianity.

White supremacy movements.

Baptists--South Carolina.

Baptists.

Methodists--South Carolina.

Methodists.

Racism--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Racism.

Race relations.

Church history.

History.

South Carolina--Church history--20th century.

South Carolina.

South Carolina--Race relations.

Genre:

Church history.

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 210 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2021]

Summary:

"The Bible Told Them So explains why southern white evangelical Christians in South Carolina resisted the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Simply put, they believed the Bible told them so. Interpreting the Bible in such a way, these white Christians entered the battle against the civil rights movement certain that God was on their side. Ultimately, the civil rights movement triumphed in the 1960s and, with its success, fundamentally transformed American society. But such a victory did little to change southern white evangelicals' theological commitment to segregation. Rather than abandoning their segregationist theology in the second half of the 1960s, white evangelicals turned their focus on institutions they still controlled-churches, homes, denominations, and private colleges and secondary schools-and fought on. Despite suffering defeat in the public sphere, white evangelicals continued to battle for their own institutions, preaching and practicing a segregationist Christianity they continued to believe reflected God's will. Increasingly caught in the tension between their sincere beliefs that God desired segregation and their reticence to vocalize such ideas for fear of seeming bigoted or intolerant by the late 1960s, southern white evangelicals eventually embraced rhetoric of colorblindness and protection of the family as measures to maintain both segregation and respectable social standing. Such a strategy set southern white evangelicals on an alternative path for race relations in the decades ahead"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Not in Our Church: Congregational Backlash to Brown v. Board of Education

2. The Bounds of Their Habitation: The Theological Foundation of Segregationist Christianity

3. Jim Crow on Christian Campuses: The Desegregation of Furman and Wofford

4. Embracing Colorblindness: The Methodist Merger and the Transformation of Segregationist Christianity

5. Focusing on the Family: Private Schools and the New Shape of Segregationist Christianity.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Hawkins, J. Russell. Bible told them so

ISBN:

9780197571064

0197571069

OCLC:

1225288020

Publisher Number:

99987776893