Civil War: America's Darwin?

Just started reading The Civil War as a Theological Crisis by Mark Noll. Only read the first few pages but a thought (unsubstantiated at the moment) struck me.

I think Noll's argument will be that the US Civil War accelerated the loss of the Bible perceived as authoritative in America. The crux: both sides of the slavery debate equally claimed the Bible as justifying their position. Suddenly, what many had assumed with confidence was a book which gave clear moral guidance for all of life, was now being used to argue two utterly opposed points of view. And this led to one of the most devastating wars in history. This shook belief in Scripture, and also opened the door for some to claim the Bible was OK but could be trumped by other matters of principle.

This sounds similar to the effect of Darwinism on Victorian Britain. And then: given that the majority of Americans today believe God created the world, it occurred to me that Darwinism has not had the same effect in the US as in Europe; at least not to the same degree. And yet the effective loss of Scripture as dependable for all society is similar. Perhaps the Civil War was, to some degree, America's Darwin?

Calvin: word & Spirit

For by a kind of mutual bond the Lord has joined together the certainty of his Word and of his Spirit so that the perfect religion of the word may abide in our minds when the Spirit, who causes us to contemplate God's face, shines; and that we in turn may embrace the Spirit with no fear of being deceived when we recognise him in his own image, namely in the Word. So indeed it is. God did not bring forth his word among men for the sake of a momentary display, intending at the coming of His Spirit to abolish it. Rather, he sent down the same Spirit by whose power he had dispensed the Word, to complete his work by his efficacious confirmation of the Word.

Insitutues 1.9.3 (Battles p95)

(Is Calvin here calling the Bible the 'image of the Spirit'?)

Calvin: you big softie

He really ought to stop faffing about and put it bluntly....

I know what certain rascals bawl out in corners in order to display the keenness of their wit in assailing God's truth. For they ask, Who assures us that the books that we read under the names of Moses and the prophets were written by them? they even dare question whether there ever was a Moses. Yet if anyone were to call in doubt whether there ever was a Plato, an Aristotle, or a Cicero, who would not say that such folly ought to be chastises with the fist or the lash.

Institutes 1.8.9 (Battles p88)

Those were the days....

Calvin: Scripture

Read Demosthenes or Cicero; read Plato, Aristotle, and others of that tribe. They will, I admit, allure you, delight you, move you, enrapture you in wonderful measure. But betake yourself from them to this sacred reading. Then, in spite of yourself, so deeply will it affect you, so penetrate your heart, so fix itself in your very marrow, that, compared with its deep impression, such vigor as the orators and philosophers have will nearly vanish. Consequently, it is easy to see that the Sacred Scriptures, which so far surpass all gifts and graces of human endevour, breath something divine.

Institutes, 1.8.1 (Battles p 82)

Wrestling

Having just preached two sermons, the content of which I found difficult to understand - and once understood, to apply - this quotation from Mark Twain seemed, well....

Most people are bothered by those passages in Scripture which they cannot understand. The Scripture which troubles me the most is the Scripture I do understand.