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Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 9:49 PM To: H-Net and ASLH Legal History Discussion list Subject: RE: H-Law Review: Christianity and Interracial Marriage Dear H-Net & ASLH Legal History List Members: Since Martin Hardeman's review of my book, Almighty God Created the Races, has sparked some questions on the list, I thought I would jump in and comment. First, in response to Professor Hoffer's question about Professor Hardeman's distillation of my thesis: I agree with Professor Hardeman that essentially, my Big Argument is that, in his words, "the Protestant Reformation marks spot where Christian theology begins to divide in matters of race and marriage". This is not, however, as Professor Hoffer intuited, the book's overall central argument. Rather, I was interested in exploring and explaining the cultural history behind 1) anti-miscegenation laws and 2) (primarily) white American attitudes toward (primarily) black-white marriages. I contend that religion, and specifically, Christian theology, is ONE of the variables that historians must attend to--in addition to economics, politics, and other social/cultural factors--in order to understand this history. I do not address these other issues in the book because my whole point is that Catholic and Protestant theological doctrines play a heretofore unexplored role in this history--one that deserved their own book. So then to address Professor Hoffer's question about why theological thought might provide a decisive influence on Latin American (and Catholic) notions of race, I would respond like this. I was trying to suggest not that Theologian A caused Belief X about race to emerge. Rather, I meant that the larger cultural context of Catholicism contributed to a widespread cultural acceptance of interracial "mixing" (one that differed decisively from English Protestant views). Specifically, I argue that Catholic beliefs about the unity of the human family in Adam and Eve (as compared to the southern white Protestant theology of God having dispersed the sons of Noah to separate continents following the Tower of Babel incident of Genesis 11), and the Catholic theology of marriage that permitted a Catholic to marry any other Catholic (barring ecclesiastical impediments) contributed to a sense of acceptance of marriages between persons of different races among Catholics. The enslavement of African peoples and indigenous Americans, of course, deeply complicated Catholic beliefs in the Americas, as did the emergence of state powers in conflict with that of the Church. And I feel like I'm about to launch into a re-hash of one of the book's chapters here, so I'll stop and hope that this begins to explain better my intended meaning. But I would love to have an off-list discussion with you, Professor Hoffer, if you would like, esp. since I did not even address your question about the importance of theology on law. But I do believe that Professor Frew's comment that differing scriptural interpretations, differing notions of the purpose of marriage, and the power of any given group played significant roles in marriage laws, is right on the money and that was indeed another point I attempted to make in the book. Lastly, thank you to Professor Hardeman for his review and fair presentation of the arguments of the book, and thanks to list members for your questions, comments and interest. Apologies for babbling on for so long. All best, Fay Dr. Fay Botham Dept. of Religious Studies University of Iowa Returning July 2011 to: Depts. of American Studies and Religious Studies Hobart and William Smith Colleges Geneva, NY
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