Date of Award
Fall 2000
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Theology
First Advisor
Carey, Patrick W.
Second Advisor
Dabney, D. L.
Third Advisor
Duffey, Michael
Abstract
The following chapters demonstrate that Alexander-Campbell's political convictions led him to abhor Catholicism, and to fear the oppressive conspiracies of the Catholic hierarchy, At the same time, however, bis convictions led him to reject the overt proscription of Catholics; instead, he placed great confidence in good government, and he trusted the educational institutions of the New Republic to crush the Catholic threat in a non-coercive, republican way. Previous historians have been unable to adequately address these aspects of Campbell's thought, for two primary reasons~ first, they have :frequently treated Campbell as a thoroughgoing primitivist who wished to "restore" the practices of the unadulterated first-century church; second, they have neglected bis Presbyterian backgrounds...