The type of argument I have been searching for around 5 years: The Intellectual Life and Defense of Thornwell and the South. The Metaphysical Confederacy: James Henley Thornwell and the Synthesis of Southern Values by James O. Farmer, Jr. He makes the argument that the Old South, its finest intellectual hour seen in Thornwell, was much superior intellectually than the North. By the way, this is published by the scholarly Mercer University Press, so it ain't no hick from the sticks writing.

Thornwell also warned of the coming religious crisis, that which we call the Civil War. While criticizing unbiblical aspects of Southern slavery, he primarily warned against the rising humanistic and unitarian tide from the North which would overwhelm the South, not only militarily, but also--and more deadly--spiritually.

I also got Sean Lucas' new biography on Dabney.

As a reviewer of a similar book so nicely stated it:

Bound to do battle with the evils of slavery, it was a short skirmish. Although the Norhtern ministers recognized some evils, many found that slaves were regarded as "laborers" under the protection of Christian gentlemen. They met forward-thinking Southerners who were certain that slavery would gradually dissipate into a laboring class of free men. Slaveholders were quick to point out that under the Southern system , even in its present form, slaves were better treated than workers in Northern sweatshops.

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J. B. Atken
John Knox PCA
Layman, M.A. student at Louisiana College