Southern Evangelicals and the Social Order, 1800-1860

Loveland delivers a fairly complete picture of evangelical's effect on southern society. Drawing from the journals and sermons of southern evangelical ministers, Loveland explores firsthand how regenrated preachers felt about politics, society and the cause of Christ throughout the South. She recounts how the evangelical sermon was a crossroads of politics, society and religion, as ministers often addressed the burning questions of the day from the pulpit. She describes the missionary activity so characteristic of northern evangelists undertaken by their southern counterparts. She shows how southern preachers were involved in a host of benevolent projects, from reforming sailors to caring for the poor. She relates how many southern evangelicals believed in instructing and converting slaves to Christianity but that they differed from their northern contemporaries in that they also upheld and defened slavery. Overall, one of the best books on the complex and fascinating topic of antebellum southern evangelicalism.