Sacred Conviction: The South's Stand for Biblical Authority

HISTORIANS HAVE LONG UNDERSTOOD that conflicts over slavery, Constitutional interpretation, economic interests, and culture contributed to the coming of the War Between the States. Joseph Jay’s original and insightful study illuminates yet another important difference that fueled conflict between the North and South—theology. It has been more than once observed that Southern clergy were among the strongest advocates of Southern Independence. Jay shows why that was so. He explains how Southerners based their faith on Biblical authority and regarded the “Higher Law,” Unitarianism, and crusading political religion of their Northern counterparts as a threat to Christianity.