The Metaphysical Confederacy: James Henley Thornwell and the Synthesis of Southern Values

by James Oscar Farmer Jr.

Book by James Oscar Farmer, Jr.

Genres: History, American History, Biography

295 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Jacob Aitken · Rating 5 out of 5]

He makes the argument that the Old South, its finest intellectual hour seen in Thornwell, was much superior intellectually than the North. By the way, this is published by the scholarly Mercer University Press, so it ain't no hick from the sticks writing.

Thornwell also warned of the coming religious crisis, that which we call the Civil War. While criticizing unbiblical aspects of Southern slavery, he primarily warned against the rising humanistic and unitarian tide from the North which would overwhelm the South, not only militarily, but also--and more deadly--spiritually.

If I can restate the thesis in different terms: with the fall of the Confederacy, we saw the last bastion of a thoroughly Christian civilization destroyed. America would move from a decentralized republic to a consolidated Empire (which subsequent decades proved chillingly).

[Zachary Garris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It's a Thornwell intellectual biography that interacts with other figures of the Old South. Well-written and informative.

[Kent · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wavering between two and three stars, but tried to err on the side of being nice. More comments later.

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Ah, never mind the niceness. After reading Clyde Wilson's excellent analysis of another great Carolinian, one realizes what this book could have been but was not.