A Revolutionary Conscience: Theodore Parker and Antebellum America [Paperback]

Theodore Parker was one of the most controversial theologians and social activists in pre-Civil War America. A vocal critic of traditional Christian thought and a militant opponent of American slavery, he led a huge congregation of religious dissenters in the very heart of Boston, Massachusetts, during the 1840s and 1850s. This book argues that Parkers radical vision and contemporary appeal stemmed from his abiding faith in the human conscience and in the principles of the American revolutionary tradition. A leading figure in Bostons resistance to the Fugitive Slave Law, Parker became a key supporter of John Browns dramatic but ill-fated raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. Propelled by a revolutionary conscience, Theodore Parker stood out as one of the most fearless religious reformers and social activists of his generation.Paul E. Teed is professor of history at Saginaw Valley State University where he has taught since 1997. He is the author of John Quincy Adams: Yankee Nationalist. His articles have appeared in Civil War History, the Journal of the Early Republic, and American Studies. In 2012, he was chosen as Distinguished Professor of the Year by the Presidents Council of the State Universities of Michigan.Teeds is the first complete life study of Parker to appear in many decades. Teed shows readers the full sweep of Parkers remarkable career and his wide range as a thinker....Teed is the first biographer to recognize Parkers important role in the antislavery movement as a mediator between the contentious Garrisonian and other political factions; the first to look dispassionately at Parkers growing support for antislavery violence in the 1850s; the first to deal forthrightly with Parkers racial theories and his sometimes shockingly racist pronouncements; the first to look critically at Parkers ideas about gender and womens rights; and the first to take seriously Parkers reactionwhich shaped his later theologyagainst the philosophical atheism of Ludwigl#9