Abraham Lincoln: Was He a Christian? — Text and Context

A Legalistic Structure of Witnesses

The book's table of contents reveals a deliberate, almost forensic arrangement. Fifteen chapters move from Christian testimony (chapters I–IV) through Herndon's published and unpublished accounts (V–VI), Lamon's witnesses (VII–IX), relatives and intimate associates (X), Illinois friends (XI), Washington acquaintances (XII), other opinions (XIII), Lincoln's own writings (XIV), to a recapitulation (XV). This tiered structure allows Remsburg to present and then dismantle opposing claims. For instance, chapter II reviews Christian biographers Holland and Bateman, while chapters III and IV take on Reed and Arnold. The preface explicitly states that the work collects testimony from "more than one hundred witnesses" across "more than three hundred pages," underscoring the scale of the evidentiary project.

Recurring Motifs of Denial and Affirmation

Throughout the excerpts, a pattern emerges: witnesses are introduced with credentials—"an honest, truthful man," "a leading member of the Bloomington bar"—then their testimony is quoted, often including Lincoln's own words. A recurring image is that of Lincoln's resistance to Calvinistic theology. Dr. C. H. Ray, for example, asks that biographers "do not give Calvinistic theology a chance to claim him as one of its saints and martyrs." William H. Hannah reports Lincoln's disbelief in eternal punishment: "he never could bring himself to believe in eternal punishment." James W. Keys recalls Lincoln saying that Christ's divinity "had better be taken for granted" because reason might lead to infidelity. These snippets collectively depict a Lincoln who engaged with theological questions but rejected orthodox positions.

Movement Between Public and Private Spheres

The testimony shifts between Lincoln's public statements and private conversations. Jesse W. Fell, a Unitarian Christian and political ally, provides a lengthy deposition that acknowledges his reluctance to contradict earlier biographers. The excerpts show Lincoln in informal settings—at the Bloomington bar, in Springfield conversations—where he expressed views on immortality and punishment. The book also moves from Illinois to Washington, as chapter XII covers acquaintances from Lincoln's presidential years. This geographical and social movement mirrors the arc of Lincoln's life, but Remsburg uses it to accumulate evidence from different contexts, reinforcing the claim that Lincoln's unorthodox views were consistent across time and place.

The Role of Herndon and Lamon as Key Deponents

Two figures recur as central witnesses: William H. Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, and Ward H. Lamon, his bodyguard and biographer. Herndon's testimony is split into published and unpublished chapters, suggesting Remsburg valued even informal remarks. Lamon's witnesses are examined in chapters VII through IX, with Remsburg carefully rebutting attempts to discredit them. In chapter IX, he includes an "Answer to Reed's Pretended Refutation of the Testimony of Lamon's Witnesses," showing a direct engagement with opposing scholarship. The preface notes that the claim of Lincoln's Christianity was "promptly denied by the dead statesman's friends" after his death, setting up Herndon and Lamon as defenders of the non-Christian interpretation against biographers like Holland.

Readers approaching Remsburg's work should attend to its method: each chapter functions as a building block in a cumulative case, and the author's own stance is transparent from the epigraph. The book is best read as a documentary compilation rather than a narrative biography. Because the excerpts are incomplete, the full range of Lincoln's own writings in chapter XIV and the final recapitulation are not available here, but the pattern of witness presentation and rebuttal is consistent throughout the sampled portions.

Sometimes I think about how Remsburg gathered all those voices around Lincoln, trying to pin down a faith that stayed stubbornly private. It left me wondering how we read anyone’s inner life, even our own. That quiet uncertainty follows me into The Literature of the Old Testament — Key Ideas to Explore, where the questions feel older and just as restless.