The Christian Testimony of General Robert E. Lee The Christian Testimony of Major-General J. E. B. Stuart
The Christian Testimony of Major-General J. E. B. Stuart by Edward R. DeVries. Foreword by J.E.B. Stuart IV. 60 pp., 2005. School of Biblical & Theological Studies c/o 1549 Stuckey Rd., Dubberly, LA 71024, $6 plus shipping. The author of these two books is not a historian, rather a long-time Baptist minister and more recently the president of the Internet School of Biblical & Theological Studies situated in a small Louisiana town. He is the holder of a doctorate in theology from Landmark Baptist University in Bristol, Tenn., and a doctorate in religious education from Lake Charles Bible College in Louisiana. Consequently, both these books enthusiastically extol the Christianity of two of the Confederacy’s leading generals. In the introduction to the Robert E. Lee book, Edward DeVries tells the reader that, while he was born in the North, he had a “life journey from ‘died in the wool’ Yankee to Southern Patriot.” His journey was so complete that he now hangs a portrait of Lee in his office. He earlier wrote a defense of the Christianity of the Confederate flag, and he has also been a national officer of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. In preparing to write the 94-page pamphlet about Lee, DeVries indicates that he read 37 biographies of Lee, many of which he cites in his endnotes. The vast majority of these books were published in the 19th century. No modern biography or journal article is to be found. The endnotes for the JEB Stuart book include more recent books, but, as in the Lee book, the notes hardly touch the range of literature available to the author. DeVries’ purpose in writing these books is, as the titles indicate, to demonstrate that both Lee and Stuart were Christians. There is no attempt to consider the full range of these men’s lives. DeVries demonstrates his point clearly late in his Lee pamphlet. On page 67, he writes: “So while the temptation in writing a book such as this would be to conclude by encouraging the reader to imitate the actions and character of General Lee, I must rather conclude by admonishing the reader to surrender wholly to Jesus Christ so that Christ might live through us as He did so many years ago through Lee.” Near the end of the Stuart book, DeVries makes a similar statement. On pages 47-48, he writes: “In what are you trusting for eternal salvation? Hopefully, just like General Stuart, you are trusting in absolutely nothing except for Christ’s death on the cross.” Those readers looking for an in-depth study of either of these Confederate generals will find these books to be disappointing. As one might expect from an author with DeVries’ background, these publications are theological rather than historical. The theology contained within, however, provides the reader with no new revelation. Reviewer: John F. Marszalek is the Executive Director and Managing Editor of the Ulysses S. Grant Association, Mitchell Memorial Library, Mississippi State University.
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The Christian Testimony of General Robert E. Lee by Edward R. DeVries. Foreword by Larry Lilly. 94 pp., 2003. School of Biblical & Theological Studies c/o 1549 Stuckey Rd., Dubberly, LA 71024, $7 plus shipping.