Historians have long argued about the relation between war and change. The Civil War obviously made some changes in American politics, economic life, and technology. However, it may well have retarded intellectual life, particularly religious thinkers' engagement with new issues. Charles Darwin began to publish his work on the eve of the Civil War; American religious leaders did not begin to discuss Darwinism much until after the war was over. Similarly, in the 1840s Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were already offering an analysis of the impact of industrial capitalism on society. A Christian response to the economy was not part of mainstream American religious thought until the 1870s. In some ways, this lag proved injurious to the ability of various religions to hold the loyalty of some believers.
While American pioneers were heading westward, Darwin was exploring another frontier. From 1831 to 1836 he.....
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