Lincoln's Christianity (review)

Abraham Lincoln memorably invoked the Bible in his public speeches and writings. Yet defining the precise character of his personal religious convictions has proved elusive. His wife, Mary Todd, remarked that "he was a religious man by nature. . . [yet] he was never a technical Christian."The debate over Lincoln's faith began shortly after his death, when his law partner William Herndon announced that he was an "infidel."Was honest Abe dishonest in his use of religious rhetoric to stir the emotions of a Bible-reading nation in support of the Union cause?

While important in revealing Lincoln's youthful skepticism and the unorthodox character of his belief, Herndon's account requires qualification. As David Donald has noted, Herndon was driven to overstatement in response to the hagiographic qualities of J. G. Holland's biography, published in 1865, which claimed that Lincoln had made an explicit profession of the Christian faith. Moreover, Herndon's own testimony is itself inconsistent and unclear. For example, in one sentence he characterizes Lincoln as "an infidel . . . a Universalist . . . a Unitarian . . . a Theist"—"four distinct propositions," as Donald notes.¹

The debate over Lincoln's religious beliefs continues today, with each side in the culture war appealing to him in support of its own view of religion's role in American public life. This is not surprising given the centrality of the Sixteenth President to our democratic self-understanding. In general, those of the secular left claim that he was a skeptic, while those of the religious right regard him as an evangelical Christian.

Lincoln's Christianity by Michael Burkhimer is therefore highly recommended as a clear and concise work that sheds much light on the elusive topic of the Sixteenth President's religious belief. Burkhimer rejects the simple dichotomy between Lincoln as either a skeptic or an evangelical. This temptation to fit Lincoln neatly into one category or the other has been the source of many interpretative pitfalls. Instead, Burkhimer provides persuasive evidence to support his view that the Sixteenth President's faith developed and deepened over time."Though he was slowly brought into a Christian faith starting in 1849–1850, his last four years saw a blossoming and a deepening spiritually in his life and writings" (p. 107).

Burkhimer begins by exploring the religious environment of Lincoln's early youth. The Calvinist teaching of predestination would exert a consistent influence upon Lincoln's belief throughout the rest of his life. The youthful Lincoln was indeed a skeptic, although not an atheist. He could not accept the crass emotionalism and self-righteousness of the "frontier religion" of his time. Lincoln thus turned to the works of enlightened critics of Christianity such as Constantin-François Volney and Thomas Paine, and even composed a book on infidelity. At this early stage in his life, he believed in the "Doctrine of Necessity"—that a higher power had predetermined the course of human events.

A turning point in Lincoln's spiritual life occurred when he came across the Christian's Defense, a book by Rev. James Smith, a former skeptic turned minister. Lincoln was duly impressed by this book because it appealed to reason as a companion of faith. It presented skeptical arguments against Christianity and then rebutted them systematically in a logical manner that appealed to the young lawyer. Smith's background as a skeptic who began by reading the teachings of Volney and Paine corresponded to Lincoln's own self-education.

Burkhimer cogently cross-examines the testimony from witnesses who claimed to know about Lincoln's personal convictions. Based on this testimony and Lincoln's own speeches and writings, he characterizes Lincoln's faith as a "proto-Orthodox Christianity" (p. 132). In support of this view, Burkhimer cites Lincoln's tendency to rely upon the Q source in his speeches and writings. The Q source is allegedly one of the earliest accounts of Christ that while no longer extant, nonetheless provided common material for the synoptic gospels. Q...