The Origins of Proslavery Christianity

“A carefully argued, impressively researched, persuasive book. . . . Convincing and valuable.” — Church History

“Suggest[s] useful ways of thinking about blacks as active agents in the civil and religious debates of the day.” — Georgia Historical Quarterly

“Brings complexity to a history often reduced to a simple morality tale of 'churches in captivity' to white supremacy.” — Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

“This excellent study reflects the author’s considerable research into primary sources ranging from church records to manuscript collections and his mastery of the voluminous secondary literature. . . . A superb first book.” — Catholic Historical Review

“A fresh and valuable perspective. . . . An important book with valuable research and insights. . . . Will be of great use to scholars and graduate students in the field.” — Journal of Southern History

“[A] thought-provoking study.” — Virginia Magazine

“Well researched and carefully nuanced. . . . The great success of this book . . . is Irons’s demonstration that religion was just as important as race, class or gender in shaping the antebellum South.” — The Christian Century

“A thorough, engaging study. . . . Recommended.” — CHOICE

“Makes useful contributions to a number of distinct historiographical discussions, including those about Revolutionary-era evangelicalism and slavery, the colonization movement, and the role evangelicals played during the secession crisis and in the Confederacy. . . . Irons shows that Christianity’s inherent flexibility and its emphasis on the next world more than on this one made proslavery Christianity possible.” — Civil War Book Review

“This exceedingly effective study pushes consideration of its complex subjects to unprecedented levels of insight. Irons argues that white-black interactions played the key role in shaping the antebellum evangelical defense of slavery. The argument, based on deep research and presented with meticulous care, is powerfully convincing.” — Mark Noll, University of Notre Dame, author of The Civil War as a Theological Crisis