tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post7092276342277715421..comments2024-03-26T11:33:59.219-06:00Comments on Religion in American History: The Last Time Methodists Split: A Primary SourcePaul Harveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13881964303772343114noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-25892731138571836842017-11-03T09:38:41.533-06:002017-11-03T09:38:41.533-06:00Thanks for this good post. You ask, "How migh...Thanks for this good post. You ask, "How might Andrew's wife have responded to Grimke's 'Appeal'"? My guess is that she likely would have responded the way that Angelina Grimke's own mother, a lifelong slaveowner, did to her daughter's forceful, Biblically-based arguments. Mrs. Grimke rejected Angelina's personal pleas to free her slaves. They debated the question in the year before Angelina moved north to Philadelphia, five years before Angelina joined the Philadelphia Female Antislavery Society, and six years before she wrote her first "Appeal." Mrs. Grimke rejected Angelina's argument that her soul, upon her death, was going to hell for owning slaves. In Mrs. Grimke's view (as in her husband's, though he had died some years before, leaving her the legal slaveowner), slaves were of an inferior race who possessed no right to liberty. In my forthcoming book about the Grimke sisters, to be published by Farrar, Straus, Giroux in 2020, I'll write more about this. For info, see www.louisewknight.com Louise W KnightLouise Knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09395020222867233651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-89242476399125202632016-05-20T10:16:56.431-06:002016-05-20T10:16:56.431-06:00Thanks for this, Elesha. It's always fascinati...Thanks for this, Elesha. It's always fascinating to consider the limits of radicalism and reform movements, or the conservative ways in which radicalism might be expressed. I've seen this trend in the journal of Abner Woolman (http://triptych.brynmawr.edu/cdm/ref/collection/HC_QuakSlav/id/12113), an 18th-century Quaker who sympathized with African American slaves and wanted abolition. At the same time, Abner was sort of sluggish about emancipating two slaves he inherited, he did not encourage all Quakers to free their slaves (viewing emancipation as an individual matter of conscience), and he did not see African Americans as spiritually equal to whites. The short answer is, people are complicated; the long answer is, although we may sympathize with particular aspects of past individuals, there will be nuances of thought and additional perspectives that seem alien to us today. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02999988091413226891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-8715227234923316562016-05-19T11:39:27.951-06:002016-05-19T11:39:27.951-06:00Thanks, Elesha. This reminds me of (and serves as ...Thanks, Elesha. This reminds me of (and serves as a nice follow-up) to Charity Carney's 2014 post here at RiAH on the same subject: http://usreligion.blogspot.com/2014/01/open-hearts-open-minds-open-doors.htmlChristopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13838699621239633661noreply@blogger.com