Police in in-
$150
Page 9
ing a of the and an cash
9. 90
Lincoln's Religion Explained in Book
2091
By Louis Cassels
WASHINGTON—(UPI)—In all of its history, the United States has had only one president who was not a member of any church.
He was Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday is celebrated today.
It is ironic that Lincoln should have this particular distinction, for he was "unquestionably our most religious president," says the Rev. Dr. William J. Wolf, a Lincoln scholar and professor of theology at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Mass.
IN A BOOK entitled "The Religion of Abraham Lincoln," Dr. Wolf explodes many of the myths that have gained circulation during the past century about Lincoln's religious views. He shows that Lincoln was not—as he has been described at various times as being—an infidel, a Deist, a Quaker, a Roman Catholic, a Methodist, a Presbyterian, a Disciple of Christ or a Spiritualist.
Lincoln never joined a church because he distrusted attempts to institutionalize religion and to compress the teachings of Jesus Christ into what he called "man-made creeds and dogmas." He often said that he would not join a church until he found one whose sole qualification for membership was Christ's summary of the great commandment:
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and wit an thy soul and with all thy mind, and thy neighbors as thyself."
But Lincoln's religion was not a formless "faith in faith." He was a "Biblical Christian" who drew guidance from the scriptures not only for his private life but also for the great decisions he had to make as president.
"THE ROCK ON which he stood was the Bible," says Dr. Wolf. "No president has ever had the detailed knowledge of the Bible that Lincoln had.
"The simplest description of his religion would be, single-hearted integrity in humbly seeking to understand God's will in the affairs of men and his own responsibility therein.
"In this sense, Lincoln is one of the greatest theologians of America—not in the technical meaning of producing a system of doctrine, certainly not as the defender of some one denomination, but in the sense of seeing the hand of God intimately in the affairs of nations."
Dr. Wolf cites the Emancipation Proclamation as an example of Lincoln's almost-mystical sense of divine guidance in national policy.
When Union armies were hard pressed in the battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln spent long hours on his knees in prayer. He later told his cabinet, according to the diary of his Navy secretary, Gideon Welles, that "He had made a vow, a covenant, that if God gave us the victory in the battle, he would consider it his duty to move forward in the cause of emancipation."
WELLES INDICATED Lincoln was a little embarrassed at revealing this private vow to God, but was "firmly fixed in his mind" about carrying it out.
"We might think it strange, he said, but there were times when he felt uncertain how to act; that he had in this way submitted the disposal of matters when the way was not clear in his mind what he should do." Welles wrote, "God had decided this question in favor of the slave."
Lincoln himself made this point quite vehemently on one occasion during the Civil War, when a delegation of clergymen told him the Union was sure of victory because "God is on our side."
As this incident shows, Lincoln was a great believer in prayer. But, Dr. Wolf emphasizes, "For Lincoln, the purpose of prayer was not to get God to do man's bidding but to place man where he might come to see God's purposes and to experience the strength of relying on the everlasting arms."
"My concern," said Lincoln. "is not to get God on my side, but to be quite sure that I am on God's side."
Archaeologist To Speak Here
A woman archaeologist will speak at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in the Forum Room of the Kansas Union.
Dorothy Burr Thompson, a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, will discuss terra cotta figurines.
She is a distinguished scholar, lecturer, museum director, field archaeologist, and expert on Greek terra cotta figurines, according to Arnold Weiss, associate professor of romance languages and secretary of the Kansas Society of the Archaeological Institute of America.
Child Support Unpaid
Flowers Wilt
Coke Gets Stale
Mice Eat Candy
but
Books and Antiques
Are Everlasting Valentines
LOS ANGELES—(UPI)--Douglas A. Matheson, 38-year-old minister of the Immanuel Bible Church, must spend 25 days in jail for failing to support his six children. He explained to the court that he had been spending the money on marriage counselors.
THE BOOK NOOK
"Cobweb"
1021 Mass. VL 3-1044
1021 Mass. VI 3-1044
A distinguished European scholar in the classics, Dr. Bruno Snell of the University of Hamburg, will give the next Humanities Series lecture, Feb. 18.
He will speak on "Greek Origins of European Thought: Euripides and Socrates." The lecture will be at 8 p.m. in Fraser Theater, and an informal reception will be given by the Faculty Club following.
German Scholar To Lecture on Greek Origins
Dr. Snell will speak at two other programs Feb. 17. At 4:30 p.m., in the Forum Room of the Kansas Union, he will talk about Euripides at a matinee arranged by Student Union Activities. At 8 p.m., in the Faculty Club, he will speak on "The Seven Sages," at a program being sponsored by the Philosophy Club and the department of philosophy.
DURING his visit to the campus, the German classicist will also speak to classes in Greek literature, metaphysics, and philosophical inquiry, and he will meet with faculty members in philosophy and classics and classical archaeology.
He has been spending this year as Sather Professor of Classical Literature at the University of California.
We have these in stock for all K.U.
Sororities & Fraternities
Dr. Snell has received honorary degrees from the Universities of Aarhus (Switzerland), Leeds, Oxford, and Southampton. He studied in the Universities of Edinburgh, Oxford, Leiden, Berlin, Munich, and Göttingen. He was assistant in the German Archaeological Institute in Rome and was lecturer in German at the University of Pisa. Since 1925, he has been professor of classical philology at the University of Hamburg.
P-t-P to'Hold Party For New Students
His published books include "The Discovery of the Mind," "Pindar and Bacchylides," "The Growth of Language," "Lives and Thoughts of the Seven Sages," "We and the Ancient Greeks," "Griechische Metrik." He is editor of Glotta and Antike und Abendland, and was founder of Lexicon des Frühgriechischen Epos.
People-to-People will sponsor a "Brother-Sister" party for the 31 new foreign students enrolled at KU this semester, at 7:30 tonite, at the Dine-a-mite restaurant, 23rd and Louisiana.
Foreign students and "brothers" and "sisters" from last semester are invited.
743 Mass.
VI 3-4366
Wednesday, Feb. 12, 1964 University Daily Kansan
The "Brother-Sister" program of People-to-People was active last semester in helping foreign students adapt themselves to an American university and an American way of life. The function of the "brother" or "sister" is to give each foreign student an American friend who can help him with such problems as language, customs, enrollment, and extra-curricular activities, Frank Bangs, Wichita junior, chairman of P-t-P's "Brother-Sister" program said.
is filled with all the nice things you'll want for Spring . . . coats, suits, dresses, sportswear, . . . including fashions by:
VILLAGER • LADYBUG • PETTI • COS COB • JUNIORITE • THERMO JAC • HARBURT • LOOM TOGS • EDEN ROBERTS • CATALINA • LADY MANHATTAN • LADY HATHAWAY • EVAN PICONE • JOHN MEYER OF NORWICH • GORDON FORD • SUSAN THOMAS • KENROB
"We Invite You To Come In And Browse"
The Alley Shop at diebolt's 843 Mass.
University Student Abroad Program and European Flight Meeting
Wednesday Feb.12 7 p.m.
Jayhawk Room of the Student Union
Open to Everyone
People-to-People