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

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

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Description 1 online resource (xii, 210 pages) Contents Acknowledgments -- Introduction: "As Old as the Scriptures" -- Chapter One: Not in Our Church: Congregational Backlash to Brown v. Board of Education -- Chapter Two: The Bounds of Their Habitation: The Theological Foundation of Segregationist Christianity -- Chapter Three: Jim Crow on Christian Campuses: The Desegregation of Furman and Wofford -- Chapter Four: Embracing Colorblindness: The Methodist Merger and the Transformation of Segregationist Christianity -- Chapter Five: Focusing on the Family: Private Schools and the New Shape of Segregationist Christianity -- Epilogue: The Heirs of Segregationist Christianity -- Index Summary "Why did southern white evangelical Christians resist the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s? Simply put, they believed the Bible told them so. These white Christians entered the battle 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 this 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. Focusing on the case of South Carolina, The Bible Told Them So shows how, 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 belief that God desired segregation and their reluctance to give voice to such ideas for fear of being perceived as bigoted or intolerant, by the late 1960s southern white evangelicals embraced the rhetoric of colorblindness and protection of the family as measures to maintain both segregation and respectable social standing. This strategy set southern white evangelicals on an alternative path for race relations in the decades ahead." -- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on May 13, 2021) Subject Segregation -- Religious aspects -- Christianity. Segregation -- South Carolina -- History -- 20th century Christians, White -- South Carolina -- History White supremacy movements -- Religious aspects -- Christianity. Baptists -- South Carolina Methodists -- South Carolina Racism -- Religious aspects -- Christianity. Baptists Christians, White Methodists Race relations Racism -- Religious aspects -- Christianity Segregation Segregation -- Religious aspects -- Christianity White supremacy movements -- Religious aspects -- Christianity SUBJECT South Carolina -- Church history -- 20th century South Carolina -- Race relations Subject South Carolina Genre/Form Church history History Form Electronic book LC no. 2020058624 ISBN 9780197571392 0197571395 0197571077 9780197571071 9780197571088 0197571085

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