Identifying the Image of God

Radical Christians and Nonviolent Power in the Antebellum United States

Author: Dan McKanan Series: Religion in America

Dan Mckanan traces the theme of identification through the literature of social reform, focusing on sentimental novels, temperance tales, and fugitive slave narratives. All of these genres, he suggests, were rooted in a liberal Christian theology that claimed that all people possess a divine image with the power to transform the world.

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Between 1820 and 1860, American social reformers invited all people to identify God's image in the victims of war, slavery, and addiction. Identifying the Image of God traces the theme of identification--and its liberal Christian roots--through the literature of social reform, focusing on sentimental novels, temperance tales, and slave narratives, and invites contemporary activists to revive the "politics of identification."

Critic Reviews

“"McKanan excavates a radical liberal Christian theology beneath antebellumreform...presents a convincing case that such antebellum reformers as WilliamLloyd Garrison, Henry Clarke Wright, and Adin Ballou embraced a radical liberalChristian theology."--American Historical Review”

Identifying the Image of God is extraordinarily persuasive in arguing that the imago dei was crucial to the sentimental structure of feeling."--American Literature"McKanan excavates a radical liberal Christian theology beneath antebellum reform...presents a convincing case that such antebellum reformers as William Lloyd Garrison, Henry Clarke Wright, and Adin Ballou embraced a radical liberal Christian theology."--American Historical Review"McKanan excavates a radical liberal Christian theology beneath antebellum reform...presents a convincing case that such antebellum reformers as William Lloyd Garrison, Henry Clarke Wright, and Adin Ballou embraced a radical liberal Christian theology."--American Historical ReviewIdentifying the Image of God is extraordinarily persuasive in arguing that the imago dei was crucial to the sentimental structure of feeling."--American Literature