James Henley Thornwell
American theologian
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James Henley Thornwell (December 9, 1812 – August 1, 1862) was an American Presbyterian preacher, slaveowner, and religious writer from the U.S. state of South Carolina during the 19th century. During the American Civil War, Thornwell supported the Confederacy. But contrary to many proponents of slavery, he preached that the Negro population were people created in the image of God just like whites and that they should call slaves their brothers.[2][3] He became prominent in the Old School Presbyterian denomination in the south, preaching and writing on theological and social issues. He taught at South Carolina College, eventually served as its president, and went on to teach at Columbia Theological Seminary. He was a contemporary of Charles Hodge and represented the southern branch of the Presbyterian church in debates on ecclesiology with Hodge.
James Henley Thornwell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | December 9, 1812 |
| Died | August 1, 1862 (aged 49) |
| Occupation | Theologian |
| Spouse | Nancy Witherspoon |
| Children | 9[1] |
Career
Thornwell was Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America's General Assembly in 1847 at the age of 35.
When the American Civil War broke out, Thornwell participated in the formation of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America. The PCCSA seceded from the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America over the Gardner Spring resolution, which made specific loyalty to the US Government a condition of polity. Thornwell preached the sermon at the 1861 General Assembly and wrote the first address for the new denomination.
He founded the Southern Presbyterian Review, edited the Southern Quarterly Review.
As a supporter of the Confederacy, Thornwell held the view that slavery was not prohibited under the Christian religion. He accused the Republicans of being opposed to Christianity:
The parties in the conflict are not merely abolitionists and slaveholders. They are atheists, socialists, communists, red republicans, Jacobins on the one side, and friends of order and regulated freedom on the other. In one word, the world is the battleground – Christianity and Atheism the combatants; and the progress of humanity at stake.
— James Henley Thornwell, [2]
Death
Thornwell died on August 1, 1862, after a long struggle with tuberculosis. Thornwell is buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Columbia, Richland County, South Carolina.
Legacy
An administrative building at University of South Carolina is named in his honor.[4] In July 2021, the university's Presidential Commission on University History recommended removing his name from the building.[4]
Thornwell, in the words of Professor Eugene Genovese, attempted "to envision a Christian society that could reconcile – so far as possible in a world haunted by evil – the conflicting claims of a social order with social justice and both with the freedom and dignity of the individual."[5]
Unlike capitalism or communism, which Thornwell believed altered social norms, he avowed that slavery was part of the social fabric and, therefore, unalterable.
— Jamie Diane Wilson: Transatlantic Encounters and the Origins of James Henly Thornwell's Proslavery Ideology, [6]
Thornwell believed in a collectivist vision of society in which all individuals were connected with each other and with God.[7]
Thornwell owned slaves.[8] He constantly cited the Bible to argue against abolitionists that slavery was sanctioned by Biblical authority.[9] Being an orphan himself, Thornwell considered slaves should be treated with loving care and paternalistic guidance. He advocated a limited slavery which was humane and in line with God's precepts.[10] This was because Thornwell thought free labor left the poor in a state of misery and threatened society with revolution and upheaval. Therefore, he believed a reformed and more Christian version of slavery to be a preferable alternative.[11] Thornwell's disdain for the absolute power of slave masters and subsequent attempts to reconcile Christianity, paternalism, and slavery produced a vision for society which some historians have described as fascist.[12]
