The Religious Life of Robert E. Lee

R. David Cox

• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9780802874825
• eBook ISBN:
  9781467446471
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

The first close examination of how Robert E. Lee's faith shaped his life Robert E. Lee was many things—accomplished soldier, military engineer, college president, family man, agent of reconciliation, polarizing figure. He was also a person of deep Christian conviction. In this biography of the famous Civil War general, R. David Cox shows how Lee's Christian faith shaped his crucial role in some of the most pivotal events in American history. Delving into family letters and other primary sources—some of them newly discovered—Cox traces the lifelong development of Lee's convictions and how they influenced his decisions to stand with Virginia over against the Union and later to support reconciliation and reconstruction in the years after the Civil War. Faith was central to Lee's character, Cox argues—so central that it directed and redirected his life, especially in the aftermath of defeat.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword by Mark A. Noll
• Preface
• Family Names and Relationships
• 1. “All Our Doings Being Ordered by Thy Governance”
• 2. “A Goodly Heritage”
• 3. “A House Divided”
• 4. “Who Setteth the Solitary in Families”
• 5. “To Illuminate All Bishops”
• 6. “With the Sign of the Cross”
• 7. “To Have and to Hold”
• 8. “Christ’s Faithful Soldier and Servant”
• 9. “This Our Bounden Duty and Service”
• 10. That, as We Grow in Age, We May Grow in Grace”
• 11. That He May Continue Thine Forever”
• 12. Of the Traditions of the Church”
• 13. Whose Never-Failing Providence Ordereth All Things”
• 14. Under the Protection of Thy Good Providence”
• 15. Help Thy Servants, Whom Thou Hast Redeemed”
• 16. Scatter Thou the Peoples That Delight in War”
• 17. Who Teacheth My Hands to War”
• 18. In the Bond of Peace, and in Righteousness of Life”
• 19. To Put Away the Leaven of Malice”
• 20. The Mouth of the Deceitful Is Opened upon Me”
• 21. Do Now Rest from Their Labors”
• Non Incautus Futuri: A Personal Epilogue
• Acknowledgments
• Select Bibliography
• Abbreviations
• Notes
• Index