From The Clergy

A Book to Read, Treasure, and Ponder
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
Eric Metaxas
(Thomas Nelson, 2010)

Stand in front of Westminster Abbey and you will see ten relatively new statues carved into the West Wall. One of them is of Dietrich Bonhoeffer who is the subject of a new book by Eric Metaxas. Metaxas, a friend of mine, also wrote a best-selling biography of William Wilberforce entitled Amazing Grace.

But who is this Dietrich Bonhoeffer whose name most of us recognize but can’t say much about? He was a German. He was a Lutheran minister. He stood against Hitler. He wrote several important books including The Cost of Discipleship. He was hung by the Gestapo just weeks before the war ended with Germany’s surrender. But beyond that, few of us know the details of his short but highly significant life. Here’s why it’s useful – and immensely edifying – to read this new biography.

When I was a seminary student back in 1961 Bonhoeffer was a liberal hero. In his final writings, composed while in prison, he spoke of the need for “religionless Christianity.” Liberals pounced on these words as signifying that this World War II martyr was “one of them.” Did he not anticipate the “Death of God” movement? Did he not predict the end of Christendom? Liberals salivated at the prospects and touted him as their own.

Eric Metaxas has blown that myth right out of the water, but in doing so has given us not a “conservative” Bonhoeffer (save in his commitment to classical Christian doctrine), but a man of action who defied classification save as a man with a passion for God and a profound commitment to the purity of the church.

Few realize that towards the end of his short life (Bonhoeffer died at the age of 39 in 1945) he served in Hitler’s Intelligence Agency, posing as a Nazi – but in reality being a double agent. He also worked tirelessly to get the Ecumenical Movement (the World Council of Churches) to recognize the Confessing Church, the remnant of Lutheran believers he and Karl Barth pulled together, as the one and only authentic church in Germany. In these and so many other ways, he was out on a limb, desperately trying to save the Lutheranism in which he had been reared from near total extinction in its submission to the oppressive hand of the Third Reich.

But why didn’t the world-wide church recognize that the state church of Germany had been totally taken over by Hitler in the 1930’s and ceased to be a credible witness to the Gospel? The answer is that the animus towards Germans in general at that time was so strong that the Allied powers and their politicians, including even Western churchmen, wouldn’t believe that there was a reliable German anywhere to be found. Despite his many contacts in England, Bonhoeffer failed to convince Churchill that a resistance movement inside Germany actually existed. Later, of course, we learned of the many efforts to assassinate Hitler, including the famous Valkerie plot that Bonhoeffer supported from his prison cell. But even they drew yawns from the Allied Powers. Germany as a nation, it seemed, had totally capitulated to Hitler’s demonic reign.

This is why Bonhoeffer stands out and why his witness shines even brighter. He was born to a prestigious family, with connections to nobility. He was a highly educated theologian recognized on both sides of the Atlantic. He studied and taught for a time at New York City’s Union Seminary. He moved in and out of powerful circles with a growing conviction that the vast majority of Christian leaders in Germany had lost their way and no longer believed in the power of God’s Word to redeem and renew.

How Bonhoeffer came to his confidence in the Bible (albeit interpreted through the lens of higher criticism), who influenced him in his formative years, why he saw through the vapid American liberal Protestantism he encountered at Union Seminary, and why “discipleship” will always be associated with his name are yours to discover by reading this fascinating book.

I confess that as I read the book tears came to my eyes several times. There is no rhyme or reason why Bonhoeffer -- given his background and comfortable upper middle class upbringing -- should have become one of the few men in Germany to confront the most blatant personification of evil perhaps of all times. The only explanation seems to be that God touched him and captured his mind and then -- wrapping his heart in steel -- sent him out to do battle and lose. But as with so many losers, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was ultimately a winner by the Grace of God. He still speaks to you and me and asks us: “Are you prepared for the real cost of discipleship, or are you counting on cheap grace to get you through heaven’s gates by the skin of your chinny chin chin?”

Peter C. Moore

Death on the Nile
A Summer Odyssey

Agatha Christie’s novel Death on the Nile may not be as captivating as her Murder on the Orient Express, but there is something about the Middle East that gets one’s heart pumping a little faster, and one’s sense of surprise whetted a tad quicker, than is the case in Eastern Europe. Or at least I think so since I’ve had the privilege of both riding on the Orient Express and – just this summer – sailing down the Nile.

My summer odyssey early this June had a purpose other than to gawk at Egypt’s monuments, temples and tombs (some of which were built a mere 4000 years ago!). It was to spend some time with Nathan our missionary in Yemen for whom we, as a congregation, pray nearly every Sunday in Church.

I got a vision last summer of what it was like to be a missionary in an Arab country that was 99% Muslim. In Yemen missionaries call themselves “workers” for obvious reasons. A year ago my son David and I joined a few others in one of Nathan’s Vision Yemen tours. I could see that being a worker there was very lonely, to say the least. On top of that, Nathan, who has a serious girl friend far away studying to be a doctor, is still single and – like many of us -- from a broken home.
In the course of his Arabic studies, Nathan has decided that God is calling him to the Anglican priesthood. Well, it just so happens that the Bishop of Egypt (who also serves as Anglican Archbishop of the Middle East) is a friend of mine. I thought, perhaps I could put the two together so that the Bishop might be helpful to Nathan as his ordination plans take shape. Ah, yes, there was one more reason to go to Egypt. Several years ago the same Bishop of Egypt has shared with me his vision of starting an Anglican seminary there. At that time I had expressed my enthusiasm. So, what better reason for me to go to his new seminary’s second commencement (held at Cairo’s All Saints Anglican Cathedral) than to represent Trinity Seminary and bring greetings to the graduating class?

So, my odyssey sort of fell into place. Thanks to US Airways – spotting that I was using air miles to travel both ways across the Atlantic – I was even bumped up into first class going and coming. How’s that for a break?

Once in Egypt, Nathan and I took an overnight sleeper train from Cairo to the South of the country in order to see Aswan and its historic sites, and then go even further south to Abu Simbal -- that amazing series of colossal statues erected in the 13th century B.C. by Ramesses II to frighten the (Sudanese) Nubians in case they thought they might invade his Egyptian kingdom.

After Abu Simbal, we boarded one of the Nile’s scores of floating hotels (i.e. river boats) and headed downriver, that is North, towards Luxor, the ancient Thebes. Along the way, we stopped at various historic sites including the Valley of the Kings where many Pharaohs were buried and where King Tut’s fantastic treasure trove was dug up in 1922. It now sits in Cairo’s Antiquities Museum.

Nate and I chose to study I and II Timothy and Titus for our daily Bible reading and prayer largely because these are letters from an older brother to a younger brother in Christ, and contain many nuggets of truth for those pondering the ministry.

We returned to Cairo by the same overnight sleeper. Cairo, however, proved more dangerous than the mystical Nile itself. No one seems to obey traffic laws there – if they even exist! Drivers dart in and out of the melee of cars, trucks and busses with such reckless abandon that at nearly every intersection I had to close my eyes and pray. Moreover, while one detects quite a few crosses atop churches amid the plethora of mosques, Christians have a tough time as a 10% minority in the Islamic Republic of Egypt. I chatted with the Coptic Archbishop of Cairo at the commencement exercises about the Christmas Eve massacre of Christians just 6 months ago. A Muslim gunned down 7 worshippers in a drive-by shooting as they left the midnight mass. Those indicted in the murderss have somehow “escaped” from prison, and will likely not be found. Killing Christians is not a capital offense in Egypt. But if a Christian kills a Muslim it is. The Anglican Archbishop lives in a heavily guarded compound and is driven around – sometimes wearing a bullet-proof vest -- with black curtains shielding all the rear windows. Despite that, Christians in Cairo seemed a happy bunch of believers, and the Anglican bishop himself, Mouneer Anis, is a warm, jovial, evangelical leader.

In the millennia prior to the arrival of Christians, and later Muslims, Egypt abounded with gods. Most Pharaohs were deified or deified themselves. Also, there were snake gods, crocodile gods, beetle gods, fertility gods, and – of course – Ra the sun god, definitely primus inter pares (first among equals). While we were told that it is estimated the 70% of Egypt’s antiquities still remain buried under the sands, the temples, pyramids, obelisks, and tombs, with endless hieroglyphic writings on their walls stand as eloquent witnesses to the quest for immortality that gnawed at the ancient Egyptian soul. As the French Minister of Culture Andre Malraux wrote about the monuments these Pharaohs erected to ensure their safe passage into the afterworld: “There is only one action over which indifferent stars and unchanging rivers have no sway: it is the action of a man who snatches something from death.”

The hundreds of statues these self-deifying Pharaohs erected of themselves show them wearing a calm, smiling visage befitting a god who is glorious in the prime of his mortal life. By contrast, I studied a fresco in the Temple of Karnack showing a group of Christian worshipers. The fresco had been plastered over the walls of one of the ancient temples. Of course our guide, a sophisticated Egyptologist, remarked with distain at this iconoclastic Christian defacing of an ancient temple. But what I noticed made me pause. There was a marked difference in the faces of these third century A.D. Christian men. They were clearly worshipping the Lord, because I could see the reflected glory of Jesus Christ shining in their eyes. I could see a humility, a devotion, and a clear sense that we are not gods, however exalted our status in life. There is only One to whom our ultimate allegiance belongs, and it is in worshipping him that we are changed and before him alone we bow in humble submission.

Nathan will be in Charleston briefly in late July. He has been admitted to a Master’s degree program at Oxford University, and begins his studies – assuming funding can be found – this September.

~ The Rev. Dr. Peter C. Moore

Hands Outstretched

Newly born, His hands
Wave in the air
Grasping, muscles starting to form
Preparing for play and work
Not ready to grasp the nails for carpentry

Growing, they run over the pages
Of His Father’s Word
Circling and returning again
They point to familiar phrases
Truths held in remembrance, necessary for Life.

In Jerusalem, lost to his parents
But not to God
He raises gentle and inquisitive hands
Disputing with the elders
“Did you not know…”

As Messiah, He launches out with hands of healing,
Touching the eyes, Jairus’s daughter, “talitha cumi”
The man born blind, taking the spittle,
Upraised hands stretched toward Lazarus’s tomb,
Fingers writing on the ground, “neither do I condemn you.”

Teaching hands that embrace hearts and minds
On the mount twixt heaven and earth…”blessed are you…”
He points, invites, welcomes, imparts hope, loves, uplifts
Asleep, deep into the night, the hands of God
Rest motionless in quiet, only to awake the dawn.

Confronted by the religious, His hands remain at side
Calm, yet firm, resolute, determined
Until finally when night falls
With friends, after His hands unhurriedly wash their feet,
He gives them bread and wine (Himself).

Now the hands are taken, jerked behind
And bound with ropes, He is forced away
Hands raised again and tied to the flogging post,
And flexing to the pain and evil of the world
Reining down upon His back.

Finally, the hands of God are stretched
One last time, upon a plank upon the ground
Nailed by another who holds the hammer as He once did
Receiving the blows, taking the darkness upon Himself
Outstretched hands on the hardwood of the cross.

At last, His hands, now limp, unclasp themselves in death
With a final cry, they release because nothing is left to do.
“It is finished.” His hands now accomplished all their work
Today, the work still comes from His hands, as does the invitation
To serve Him with our own, to praise the holy hands of Jesus.

Jay Haug
Financial Advisor, and sometime radio talk show host
June 2010
Submitted by Peter Moore

Save the Dates: June 25 - July 6, 2011 - Brochure
For the Trip of a Lifetime
Imagine a chance to visit Corinth, Athens and Istanbul not in some dusty cramped jitney bus, but from the decks of the most outstanding sailing vessel on the seven seas: the Sea Cloud II. Along with 90 other guests, here is a chance to explore places that you read about in the Bible and are part of the very foundations of the Christian movement.

I have been asked by First Century Voyages (of Chapel Hill, NC) once again to help lead a 12-day tour of Ephesus, Sardis, Smyrna, Pergamum, Patmos, Corinth, Athens, Troy and Istanbul – a tour that includes five star hotels plus five nights and six days aboard the amazing Sea Cloud II. This vessel is modeled on its legendary parent ship, the Sea Cloud, originally built and outfitted by heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post. It retains the luxury, comfort, and intimacy of its parent, while squiring its passengers to some of the most fascinating places in the world.

The tour begins and ends in Istanbul, where we will stay at the Istanbul Ritz Carlton Hotel. The other accommodations, to which we will be taken by air-conditioned coach, are all extremely copacetic. But it’s the visits to ancient Christian sites like Ephesus, Pergamum, Patmos and Corinth that add the “wow” factor to a tour that is unforgettable.

Imagine taking a swim in the middle of the Aegean Sea (surrounded by life boats, I should add), visiting the very cave where John wrote the Apocalypse (i.e. book of Revelation), exploring the Blue Mosque and the famed Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, and walking the very streets of Ephesus where St. Paul sparked a near riot – all with comfort, fantastic food, and -- best of all -- stimulating company with others who share a similar interest in our Christian origins.

A full brochure is in the making. But to register interest, please e-mail me at peter.c.moore1@gmail.com or just call the Church office and ask for Gretchen Sosnowski’s extension to leave a message.
~ Peter C. Moore, D.D.

Meet The Rev. E. Robinson Dewey
St. Michael’s Volunteer Priest Associate

Wanting a church home without the daily struggles of being a parish priest, the Rev. Rob Dewey has affiliated with St. Michael’s Church at the invitation of the Rev. Al Zadig. Acting in a non-paid capacity, he serves by assisting at the Eucharist on Sundays. When time permits, he and his wife Kathy attend parish functions. They are grateful to have a respite from responding to tragedies, and love being part of the warm St. Michael’s family.

Rob’s primary pastoral responsibility is serving as the Senior Chaplain for the Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy, where he ministers to “first responders,” their families, and the victims of traumatic crime scenes and other high-stress emergency situations. Each year the Chaplaincy responds to about 1,400 calls. This non-profit organization serves the police, fire and EMS agencies and citizens in the Coastal area of South Carolina.

Rob started off as a police officer in North Carolina. While attending Montreat-Anderson College, Rob went to a Billy Graham crusade and had a profound experience with the Lord. When he went to the alter for prayer, the Holy Spirit came upon him; it was wonderful, and Rob wanted more. The next year found Rob laying hands on others seeking an experience with the living God. He served on the staff of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association from 1977 to 1979, which ultimately led to divinity school at Trinity Episcopal Seminary in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.

After he finished seminary in 1983, Rob was so theologically conservative that his more liberal Bishop sent him to be “re-educated” at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. The re-programming attempt was unsuccessful, and Rob found himself at several posts before he became the Associate Rector at St. John’s on Johns Island just after Rick Belser left St. John’s to become the rector of St. Michael’s

With his police background, Rob also started riding around with officers who responded to unexpected crisis situations: crime scenes, car wrecks, attempted suicides. Seeing that the emergency responders and the general public had a great need of moral and spiritual support, in 1990 Rob began a new outreach called the Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy. This gave Rob an opportunity to teach and assist other communities toestablish similar programs. Not content to do things in a small way, Rob also serves as a Chaplain with the FBI, the ATF, the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), the Air Incident Response Team, and the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team.

Being qualified to deal with such a variety of challenges has required a lot of continuing education. Rob has taken courses in hostage negotiations, Spiritual Care in Aviation Incident Response (SAIR), and most recently an FBI course in Statement Analysis that enables hostage negotiators to be better equipped to handle hostage standoffs. In addition, Rob has co-authored the Basic and Advanced Pastoral Crisis Intervention Courses for the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation. He is on the Rotary Club of Charleston Board of Directors and still finds time to pursue racquetball, tennis, and creating stained glass.

When asked what we can do to help, Rob simply replied, “prayers and financial support.” In this economic downturn, many organizations that have traditionally supported the Coastal Crisis Ministry have been forced to cut back. Missionary work is far more than going to the ends of the earth. The Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy would appreciate your support.

Thank you, Rob. If a crisis arises, we hope that you will be there for us as you have been for so many others.

~ Peg Eastman

You are invited….
Tennis, swimming, picnic, and so much more….

Thanks to the head of the tennis program at the I’On Club, Tiago Bruniera, we’re being given the opportunity of a fun night for all ages on Saturday, May 22nd.

Come for tennis (whether you are a regular player, or an occasional player) at 5:30 PM, and for swimming too in I’On’s large pools.

Bring a dish to share, a towel, a racquet, some balls. Join the clergy and their families for an wonderful evening. Children are welcome, but must be watched by parents when in the pool.

If you are not swimming or playing tennis, still come watch and join in the fun. Juice and soft drinks will be provided. If you wish something more, bring your own.

This is an old fashioned covered-dish picnic, so please call Gretchen Sosnowski and tell her whether you will be bringing a main dish or a salad (or a dessert). (843) 723-0603, or better yet e-mail her at gsos@stmichaelschurch.net.

Also, if you’re playing tennis tell Gretchen if you’re an occasional (B) player or a regular (A) player. Also, if you’re willing to volunteer to set things up, please tell Gretchen that too. The picnic will start around 6:45 PM.

 

Peter Moore’s Summer Schedule

June 11 Meet with Archbishop Mouneer Anis, Primate of the Middle East, in Cairo, Egypt. Introduce him to Nathan from Yemen, whom we support with our prayers at
St. Michael’s.

June 12 Represent Trinity School for Ministry at the
Second Commencement of the Alexandria
School of Theology, All Saints’ Cathedral, Cairo, Egypt.

June 16-18 St. Michael’s Church Staff retreat,
St. Christopher’s Conference Center, Seabrook, SC.

June 25 Lead seminar on postmodernism at
New Wine Conference at St. Andrew’s Church, Mt. Pleasant, SC.

July 11 Preach, St. Andrew’s-by-the-Sea,
Hyannis Port, Mass.

July 29- Aug 1 Lead teaching mission at Christ Church,
St. Mary’s, Georgia

Aug 10-16 Chaplain-in-residence, Roaring Gap, NC

Charleston Bible Society Celebrates 200 Years-Part 1
(Reprinted with permission of the Charleston Mercury)

On April 10, the Charleston Library Society, Charleston’s athenaeum and the South’s oldest cultural institution, was the setting for a black-tie reception launching the Charleston Bible Society’s bicentennial celebration. The guests heard C. FitzSimons Allison, XII Bishop of South Carolina, speak on, “The Bible: Recovering the Good News.” Frank Barnwell read a proclamation from Mayor Riley designating Bible Week in Charleston, as well as greetings from sister Bible societies. Following prayer by the Rev. Dr. Daniel Massie of First (Scots) Presbyterian Church, Geoff Lewis, the Society’s president, gave the official welcome. Tim Ford, descendant and namesake of a Society founder, read passages from early documents of the Society. The event rounded out with Ann Caldwell’s stirring rendition of Stephen Adams’ “The Holy City,” followed by a benediction by the Rev. Dr. Dallas H. Wilson.

Among those attending were St. Michael’s Bishop-in-Residence, the Rt. Rev. Alex Dickson; the Rev. Canon Doug Peterson; and the Rev. Rob Dewey, Senior Chaplain for the Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy. A number of descendants were recognized.

Bishop Dickson commented on the Bible Society mission: “In 1810 leaders in Charleston saw the critical need for every family to be able to read the Holy Scriptures in order to come to a deeper knowledge of the Lord our God. Two hundred years later the need is even more critical. The remnant of believers in the United States need to be prayerfully reading the Bible each day so that God can speak to us and strengthen us to be His witnesses in our secular culture.”

Guests enjoyed a display of antique Bibles and other manuscripts, including an original 3 x 5 ½ inch Bible printed for the Charleston Bible Society in 1810.

Three Saint Michaelites served on the celebration planning committee: Frank Barnwell, chairman, Bubber Cockrell, and Peg Eastman.

Bicentennial festivities will continue on Carolina Day, June 28, when the Bible Society marches with other patriotic organizations in the Carolina Day parade. Bishop Allison will again speak at this celebration of the stunning 1776 colonial victory when patriots warded off a fleet of British warships at the mouth of Charles Town Harbor, thus delaying British occupation of the city for four years. Shortly before the start of the parade, a ceremony in St. Michael’s churchyard will dedicate the restored gravesite of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, a founder of the Bible Society.

Part 2 will continue with a history of the Charleston Bible Society in the next Messenger.
~ Peg Eastman

Charleston Bible Society Celebrates 200 Years-Part 2
(Reprinted with permission of the Charleston Mercury)

The Charleston Bible Society was organized on June 11, 1810, at the newly built South Carolina Hall on Meeting Street, today recognized as one of the finest examples of Federal architecture in the nation. It is the fifth oldest Bible society in the nation. Its founding was part of a tradition started in 1804 when the British and Foreign Bible Society in London set the ambitious goal of distributing Bibles throughout the world. The Philadelphia Bible Society, started in 1808, was the first to be established in America, followed by Bible societies in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maine. The Maryland Bible Society shares with Charleston the 1810 founding date.

The Charleston Bible Society founders were among the city’s most distinguished citizens. The first planning meeting was presided over by Thomas Lowndes, brother of Congressman William Lowndes. (Lowndes, a descendant of Rebecca Brewton Motte, Eliza Lucas, and Chief Justice Pinckney, was an attorney, planter, and member of St. Paul’s Church.) Attorney William Hasell Gibbes took the minutes.

The committee chosen to draft its constitution included the Reverends Isaac S. Keith, Pastor of Circular Congregational Church; William Percy, who established St. Paul’s, the third Episcopal church in Charleston; Richard Furman, the fiery Baptist minister who later founded Furman University; and Father Simon Felix Gallagher, long-time pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church. (Gallagher was considered a brilliant wit and a friendly drinking companion whose controversial actions caused a schism in the local church before the arrival of Bishop England.) Other members were John Bull, Robert Dewar, and Timothy Ford, Revolutionary War hero and merchant from Rhode Island. Another committee was chosen to obtain subscriptions and receive money.

When they met the following month, there were 275 subscribers and $2,296 had been collected. General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was elected president. (He was also vice president of the American Bible Society from its inception in 1816 to his death in 1825.) Pinckney was another of South Carolina’s leading citizens. He served as a brigadier general in the Continental Army, was a personal friend of George Washington, and signed the U. S. Constitution. He was minister to France and represented the new nation in the famous “XYZ” Affair when he allegedly said “Millions for defense, Sir, but not one d---d penny for tribute.” He was the Federalist candidate for vice president in 1800 and their presidential candidate in 1804 and 1808.

The four vice presidents were the Rev. Drs. Keith, Furman, and Percy, and Theodore Dehon, second Protestant Episcopal Bishop of South Carolina, who married Nathaniel Russell’s daughter Sarah in 1813. (After the Bishop’s death, Sarah Dehon helped establish St. Stephens Church in 1822 and St. John’s Chapel in 1839, the first “Free Churches” in Charleston). The corresponding secretaries were the Rev. Andrew Flinn and Christopher Gadsden, later fourth Episcopal Bishop of South Carolina. Recording secretary was Timothy Ford, who lived almost directly across Meeting Street from Nathaniel Russell, the first treasurer of the organization. Russell, also from Rhode Island, was a member of the Congregational Church; his wife was a member of St. Michael’s Church and founded, with her two daughters and sister, the Ladies Benevolent Society.

The first meetings of the society were at the College of Charleston, but by 1828 there were sufficient funds to construct a repository at 29 Chalmers Street, where the society remained until 1882. The repository is now at Second Presbyterian Church on Meeting Street.

When C. C. Siegling was treasurer, the repository was moved to Siegling’s Music House. After Siegling’s had closed, the Society’s gold-lettered, leather-bound minutes were discovered in their safe. Dated 1851-1905, the old-fashioned handwritten ledger tells an extraordinary story.

The Society’s greatest emergency came in 1861, when it began supplying Bibles to Confederate troops. A week after the attack on Fort Sumter, President Lincoln called for a blockade on Confederate ports. Prevented from importing Bibles printed in the North, the Society was forced to search for alternative suppliers. They obtained Bibles from Nashville, long a center of Bible printing. Eight cases were shipped directly from London and 5,000 Bibles came into port via blockade runners from Nassau. In 1863 an entire ship with its precious load of Bibles was lost at sea. The Confederacy’s first New Testament was published by Wood, Hanleiter Rice and Company of Atlanta. The compact size of the Bibles made it easy for soldiers to carry in combat.

In 1865 Charleston was able to resume contact with the American Bible Society, which had given more than 300,000 volumes to Southern armies and civilians.

“The War” led to the establishment of the Bible Society of the Confederate States in Orangeburg, South Carolina; the first Bible convention of the Confederate States of America took place in Augusta, Georgia (March 19-21, 1862.) A key player in the Confederate Bible Society was a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Joseph Ruggles Wilson, who had taken a pastorate in Augusta, Georgia. Pastor Wilson was active in Christian aid during the war years when his church housed and cared for injured Confederate soldiers. Wilson’s son Woodrow would become the twenty-eighth President of the United States.

In 1898 the Charleston Bible Society provided 1,000 Bibles for men fighting in the Spanish-American War.

Over the years, recipients have been merchant seamen, orphanages, churches, jails, immigrants, homeless shelters, foreign mission teams, the blind, and military personnel. The Society’s board of directors faithfully continues the Bible ministry of its founders.

Note: The government of the United States was founded by Biblically educated men. Charleston’s leaders knew intuitively what Horace Greeley wrote so eloquently: “It is impossible to enslave mentally or socially a Bible-reading people. The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom.”
By Peg Eastman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.