'Uncle Tom's Cabin as a Religious Text'
In it she explores the religious and literary (mostly philosophical and moral) philosophy of Harriet Beecher Stowe, as well as the evolution of her education and awakening/coming to terms with her own religious search and desire for communion with god. One of the major points of these work is that Beecher Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' in many ways serves as her consecration to Christ.
Beecher Stowe believed that one of the ultimate forms of communion with Christ was to give oneself up to perform the work of God, often times through art, but yet, through an emotional understanding of the world, which served as a connection to Christ. Beecher Stowe also believed that to be truly religious required one to work as Christ would to ensure that all men are recognized and treated as brothers under God.
Below is a synopsis of the text which may be found in it's entirety here
Hill begins her essay with a short overview of the history of religious based views towards slavery, and then links that history to the production of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' while following the thread she began, by breaking down the creation and impact of the novel.
"...And yet, this essay focuses on the religious culture that produced Uncle Tom's Cabin precisely because that text — thoroughly grounded in evangelical religion — rendered a verdict that produced a political explosion."
The south initially did not try to defend slavery, rather they opposed a strong federal government and an established religion which were, "the essential elements of any effective challenge to slavery". In other words, the south, as a business conglomerate, made the major thrust of their efforts in ensuring the legality of slavery, by establishing it, enforcing it, and advocating for a government that recognized and protected it. One of the ways this advocacy manifested, was in arguing for states rights over the Federal government. A sort of quasi anti-federalist perspective, if you will.
Although the defense of slavery by use of the bible had undermined the religious moral argument against slavery, somehow stowe was able to ignite a political explosion through uncle tom's cabin. how did she do this? in short her religious training, and belief's, rooted in scottish common sense philosophy, and the belief that one must have an internal sprituality which did not rely or rest in the church, rather, within the individual who laid ones all upon the alter as a consecreation, "yielding oneself as a living sacrifice to god" and allowed god to work through them, took the debate from the political sphere and the clergy, and transformed it into a personal grass roots uprising, which in turn, because once again politicized in a way which empowered the people, instead of the institution. such revolutoins are the only revolutions strong enough to overwhelm and out-influcence the heirarchies of society and established political channels.
Stowe writes of becoming "one with christ in that union of which marriage is a type", which matches upham's concept of union with the divine, which required the sacrifice of the will. it was a mystical union with teh divine that could not be limited by formal, instituional boundaries.
the religion articulated by stowe, resonated deeply within those that believed in god and abolition, and it moved those that believed in god, but felt that slavery was an unrootable southern affair not to be meddled upon by the north, to claim a religious moral high ground that moved them to become more active in their acts of faith. and for those that believed in god, and slavery, it robbed them of the force of their bible based arguments. only the choir was left for them to preach to.
stowe learned 18th century concepts of ethics and of a moral sense closely allied with an aesthetic of moral beauty and cultivated emotions. this mixed with the romanticism she learned through wordsworth, coleridge and byron.
her association with theodore dwight weld taught her about the manual labor movement, abolitionism and racial integration, which further removed the issue of slavery from a bible supported institution, to an issue of labor exploitation, racial discrimination, competitive individualism and a focus on market values. this is what weld argued in the famous 1834 lane debates.
Some of the major sociological events and ideas upon Stowe: the oberlin perfectionist; german idealism and perfectionist theology which formed the foundations of her faith. i.e., the divine is known through the emotions.
sermons and formal worship services form a part of her religious habitus, but they are the least part. "Her religious life centered on practices pursued in the privacy of domestic spaces; reading and discussion, singing and prayers. Social intercourse, in conversation and letters,.. religious formed a... web... in which evangelical life was lived"
stowe review of thomas upham's, principles of the interior or hidden life (1843) [new york evangelist in 1845], shows how her thoughts and perspective evolved.
stowe was well read, and often debated, discussed and opinioned/editorialized upon that which she read in addition to being the daughter of a preacher with 6 brother's who were preachers, who all communicated and spoke to one another due to their shared belief that such discussions, communications and "work" within religion, formed the basis for ones faith and christ-evolution.
as a romanticist, she "poured over volumes on religous art" in her travels to europe and recognized the power of art to illustrate religious themes and move/stir emotions to deeper spiritual understanding.
the literature of her day, was infused with philosphy, fiction, religious newspapers, and religious issues permeated print culture. as she felt herself becoming a sacrament, she allowed god to use her, and work through her, within her chosen form, to produce uncle tom's cabin.
" Stowe knew that she needed to persuade her evangelical public that abolition was a Christian imperative, not a radical, skeptical agenda. Abolitionism, in 1850, was a minority movement. Abolitionists were generally considered fanatics; "
Her version of holiness perfectionism, with its emphasis on union with the divine and empowerment for service, suggests that sanctified Christians, in their ability to more perfectly imitate Christ, can more fully enter into the sufferings of others than the unsanctified can. But she would have agreed with Smith's broader argument that the human imagination was intimately connected to the moral sense.
For her evangelical public, Stowe's objective was to demonstrate the African's capacity to be a fellow Christian.
"Stowe develops another line of argument by portraying the damage that slavery does to the master class. The moral threat to children is revealed in Henrique's ungovernable temper. Marie St. Clare provides an instructive portrait of the kind of monster of selfishness that slavery produced. Slavery also undermines religion among the more thoughtful of the master class."
Some of Stowe's literary, religious and literary contemporaries; william theodore weld; frederick douglas; harriet jacobs; angelina and sarah grimke.
stowe realized that there was little distinction between the south, which engaged in slavey and it's profits, and the north which ignored it, allowed it, and invested heavily in the cotton aftermarket.
another element is intimacy. there is hand holding, touching, embraces, tender careses, deep stares into one another's eyes. all pointed at making the african a fellow human and brother in christ.
Dr. Hill ends her novel by stating,
"Mrs. Stowe's novel is a public display of private, religious feeling designed to change both feelings and policy, and a heated, intellectual argument about ideology and theology. Feeling right has a political salience that extends from evangelicals' parlors to legislative chambers."
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