"Fire From the Midst of You" : : A Religious Life of John Brown / / Louis A. Decaro Jr.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter New York University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Decaro Jr., Louis A.,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2002]; ©2002
• Year of Publication: 2002
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

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 U.S. 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.”

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction. -- Part I. A Power above Ourselves -- 1. “And They Had No Comforter” -- 2. John Brown’s Heritage -- 3. Revival, Resistance, and Abolition in the Time of John Brown -- Part II. A Good Cause and a Sovereign God -- 4. The Early Years -- 5. Millennial Hopes, Abolitionist Awakenings -- 6. “This Path of Life” -- Part III. Providence and Principle -- 7. Citizen Brown’s Calvinist Community -- 8. Citizen Brown’s Calvinist Community -- 9. Of Vows and Tears -- Part IV. In Times of Difficulty -- 10. Belted Knights and Practical Shepherds -- 11. “We Are Tossing Up and Down” -- 12. The Practical Shepherd in Springfield -- Part V. Big Difficulties and Firm Footholds -- 13. A Cold and Snowy Canaan Land -- 14. “So We Go” -- 15. “All the Encouragement in My Power” -- Part VI. Enduring Hardness -- 16. Ohio and Beyond -- 17. “Kansas the Outpost” -- 18. Pottawatomie and the Fatherless -- Part VII. I Will Raise a Storm -- 19. “The Language of Providence” -- 20. “This Spark of Fire” -- 21. “My Public Murder” -- Epilogue. A Saint’s Rest -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author