"Fire from the Midst of You": A Religious Life of John Brown

Forside
NYU Press, 22. des. 2002 - 349 sider

Reveals a complex new portrait of John Brown, radical abolitionist and leader of the 1859 raid on Harper's Ferry

John Brown is usually remembered as a terrorist whose unbridled hatred of slavery drove him to the ill-fated raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in 1859. Tried and executed for seizing the arsenal and attempting to spur a liberation movement among the slaves, Brown was the ultimate cause celebre for a country on the brink of civil war.

“Fire from the Midst of You” situates Brown within the religious and social context of a nation steeped in racism, showing his roots in Puritan abolitionism. DeCaro explores Brown's unusual family heritage as well as his business and personal losses, retracing his path to the Southern gallows. In contrast to the popular image of Brown as a violent fanatic, DeCaro contextualizes Brown's actions, emphasizing the intensely religious nature of the antebellum US in which he lived. He articulates the nature of Brown's radical faith and shows that, when viewed in the context of his times, he was not the religious fanatic that many have understood him to be. DeCaro calls Brown a “Protestant saint”—an imperfect believer seeking to realize his own perceived calling in divine providence.

In line with the post-millennial theology of his day, Brown understood God as working through mankind and the church to renew and revive sinful humanity. He read the Bible not only as God's word, but as God's word to John Brown. DeCaro traces Brown's life and development to show how by forging faith as a radical weapon, Brown forced the entire nation to a point of crisis.

“Fire from the Midst of You” defies the standard narrative with a new reading of John Brown. Here is the man that the preeminent Black scholar W.E.B. Du Bois called a "mighty warning" and the one Malcolm X called “a real white liberal.”

Inni boken

Innhold

Reconfiguring Sainthood
1
Part I A Power about Ourselves
9
Part II A Good Cause and a Sovereign God
43
Part III Providence and Principle
81
Part IV In Times of Difficulty
121
Part V Big Difficulties and Firm Footholds
161
Part VI Enduring Hardness
203
VII I Will Raise a Storm
237
A Saints Rest
279
Notes
285
Selected Bibliography
335
Index
345
About the Author
349
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Side 12 - So I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.
Side 68 - BLOW ye the trumpet, blow ! The gladly solemn sound, Let all the nations know, To earth's remotest bound, The year of jubilee is come : Return, ye ransomed sinners, home.
Side 51 - God the great Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct, dispose and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, according to his infallible fore-knowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness and mercy.
Side 84 - Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
Side 96 - VANITY of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun ? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh : but the earth abideth for ever.
Side 109 - Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people...
Side 31 - And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
Side 240 - I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
Side 68 - Through all the world proclaim. The year, &c. 3 Ye who have sold for nought Your heritage above, Shall have it back, unbought, The gift of Jesus' love. The year, &c. 4 Ye slaves of sin and hell, Your liberty receive ; And safe in Jesus dwell, And blest in Jesus live. The year, &c.

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