Progressive movements have rooted themselves in the Bible as much as conservative. This book examines how abolitionism, women's rights, and civil rights movements used scripture for their arguments, featuring the work of Maria Stewart, Septima Clark, Fannie Lou Hamer, Frederick Douglass, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
While conservative groups have often appealed to the Bible to support their positions, so too have many progressive voices rooted in the Bible, seeing their struggles in its narratives and characters, and drawing on its verses to prove the truth of their arguments. Abolitionism countered pro-slavery arguments with copious biblical material. Women's rights advocates strongly disagreed with one another about whether the Bible was good news for their cause, but some argued that it was. Temperance, a broadly inclusive reform movement in the nineteenth century, employed arguments that reflected a critical, non-literalist stance to the text. Civil rights speakers identified with biblical figures and struggles, infusing their rhetoric with familiar verses. The Progressives' Bible foregrounds women, especially women of color, like Maria Stewart, Septima Clark, and Fannie Lou Hamer, while also considering the works of crucial figures like Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr. A final chapter describes contemporary social justice movements that draw strength from biblical and religious traditions, from Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant perspectives.
"Like conservative forces, progressive movements in American life have rooted themselves in the Bible. This book examines how abolitionism, 19th-century women's rights, temperance, and 20th-century civil rights movements marshalled scripture for their arguments. A final chapter looks at contemporary reform groups that draw from religious traditions"--
