DOC Ideals Face Reality: Jewish Law and Life in Poland; 1550-1655 by Edward Fram in History

Description

John Brown is usually remembered as a terrorist whose unbridled hatred of slavery drove him to the ill-fated raid on Harper's Ferry; Virginia; in 1859. Tried and executed for seizing the arsenal and attempting to spur a liberation movement among the slaves; Brown was the ultimate cause celebre for a country on the brink of civil war.“Fire from the Midst of You” situates Brown within the religious and social context of a nation steeped in racism; showing his roots in Puritan abolitionism. DeCaro explores Brown's unusual family heritage as well as his business and personal losses; retracing his path to the Southern gallows. In contrast to the popular image of Brown as a violent fanatic; DeCaro contextualizes Brown's actions; emphasizing the intensely religious nature of the antebellum U.S. in which he lived. He articulates the nature of Brown's radical faith and shows that; when viewed in the context of his times; he was not the religious fanatic that many have understood him to be. DeCaro calls Brown a “Protestant saint”—an imperfect believer seeking to realize his own perceived calling in divine providence.In line with the post-millennial theology of his day; Brown understood God as working through mankind and the church to renew and revive sinful humanity. He read the Bible not only as God's word; but as God's word to John Brown. DeCaro traces Brown's life and development to show how by forging faith as a radical weapon; Brown forced the entire nation to a point of crisis. “Fire from the Midst of You” defies the standard narrative with a new reading of John Brown. Here is the man that the preeminent Black scholar W.E.B. Du Bois called a "mighty warning" and the one Malcolm X called “a real white liberal.”