Abraham Lincoln

The Spiritual Growth of a Public Man

By D. Elton Trueblood
Foreword by Alonzo L. McDonald
(1993)

Current edition includes discussion questions; Discussion Guide available here (PDF)

Many books have been written on Lincoln, but few cover his spiritual journey.

Our Reading features excerpts from Abraham Lincoln: Theologian of American Anguish by Elton Trueblood, along with the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.

Trueblood’s excerpts document how Lincoln’s faith deepened through the intense trials of his presidency. McDonald’s Foreword helps raise related questions for all those in positions of leadership.

Lincoln believed in Providence, but, in Niebuhr’s terms, he understood “the error of identifying providence with the cause to which the agent is committed.” When dedicated people forget the ubiquity of this danger, they are almost sure to become self-righteous. Only the person who recognizes that he is personally involved in the evils which he seeks to eliminate has any chance of avoiding this primary moral mistake. Lincoln, conscious as he was of the radical difference between the divine will and the human will, understood that ambiguities appear in the moral stance of even the most dedicated crusaders.

The 2007 printing is newly typeset and includes discussion questions.

The full text of Trueblood’s book is available online here.

Category: Readings (No. 6)