Publisher’s Website<\/a><\/p>\nFrederick Douglass: America\u2019s Prophet<\/em> by D. H. Dilbeck is a religious biography of one of the nation\u2019s greatest orators as well as one of the most articulate and passionate advocates for liberty and equality.\u00a0 Dilbeck emphasizes the role that Christianity played throughout the activist\u2019s life, thereby offering a contrast to other biographies of Douglass that emphasize certain time periods or even downplay the impact that faith had on his outlook and social justice endeavors.\u00a0 The book is divided into three separate sections that coincide with different periods in Douglass\u2019 life and faith journey: \u201cThe Seeking Slave, 1818-1838,\u201d \u201cThe Zealous Orator, 1839-1852,\u201d and \u201cThe Hopeful Prophet, 1853-1895\u201d.\u00a0 Dilbeck contends that despite experiencing peaks and valleys in his religious life, Douglass\u2019 teenaged conversion to Christianity guided and inspired him throughout his entire life.\u00a0 According to Dilbeck, Douglass\u2019 steadfast faith transformed him into the American equivalent of an Old Testament prophet who called the nation to repent of its many sins against those it oppressed and to live up fully to its espoused ideals.\u00a0 In particular, the author compares Douglass \u00a0to Isaiah, driving this point home by ending the book with the Hebrew prophet\u2019s demand that his nation \u201c\u2019Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression\u2019\u201d (163).\u00a0 This brand of fiery religious idealism led Douglass to eschew formal church affiliation and even clash with the institutional church\u2019s leadership, a fact that other scholars cite as proof that Douglass\u2019 faith diminished in later life as he favored humanism.\u00a0 Taking authors Waldo Martin and William Van Deburg to task on this issue, Dilbeck argues that Douglass\u2019 clashes with the church demonstrated his refusal to compromise on issues of conscience and his praise for activists\u2019 contributions to emancipation was not a denial of God\u2019s role in history but proof that \u201cthe work of God and the work of human beings could remain mysteriously united in shaping events\u201d (145).\u00a0 For Dilbeck, Douglass\u2019 penchant for critique demonstrated his total commitment to \u201ctrue Christianity\u201d\u00a0 (163). The faith that gave him the strength to escape and combat slavery still burned within his heart when he died fighting against the rise of Jim Crow.<\/p>\nDilbeck\u2019s thesis is both clear and convincing.\u00a0 The brief biography is not short on substance as the author draws heavily upon Douglass\u2019s written and spoken words.\u00a0 While Chapter Ten\u2019s critique of Martin and Van Deburg feels overly pressed at times, the portrayal of Douglass as a prophetic voice is well documented and demonstrated throughout the book.\u00a0 The writing is clear and the book is a quick read that will appeal to general readers as well as scholars of history and religion.\u00a0 Those familiar with Douglass will not find Dilbeck\u2019s book to unveil any dramatic new revelations about major events in his life. But the focus on his Christian beliefs and the framing of Douglass as and American prophet does offer an important new interpretation of the man and his motivations.\u00a0 The book also serves as a useful reminder that the nineteenth century African American Christian community was no more monolithic than it is today.\u00a0 As such, it is a recommended addition to any personal, public, university, or church library.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Review: Frederick Douglass Daniel L. Fountain Professor of History at Meredith College. JSR Volume 20 Cite this Article Daniel L. Fountain, “Review: Frederick Douglass,”\u00a0Journal of Southern Religion (20) (2018): jsreligion.org\/vol20\/fountain. Open-access license This work is licensed CC-BY. You are encouraged to make free use of this publication. D. H. Dilbeck. Frederick Douglass: America\u2019s Prophet. Chapel…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-927","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jsreligion.org\/vol20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jsreligion.org\/vol20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jsreligion.org\/vol20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jsreligion.org\/vol20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jsreligion.org\/vol20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=927"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jsreligion.org\/vol20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":942,"href":"https:\/\/jsreligion.org\/vol20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/927\/revisions\/942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jsreligion.org\/vol20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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