University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 1-1-2011 Minds in Place: Thornwell, Palmer, Dabney, and Breckinridge in Fast Day Sermons: Or, The Pulpit on the State of the Country (1861) Xaris A. Martínez University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Martínez, Xaris A., "Minds in Place: Thornwell, Palmer, Dabney, and Breckinridge in Fast Day Sermons: Or, The Pulpit on the State of the Country (1861)" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1230. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1230 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. MINDS IN PLACE: THORNWELL, PALMER, DABNEY, AND BRECKINRIDGE IN FAST DAY SERMONS: OR, THE PULPIT ON THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY (1861) A Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Southern Studies The University of Mississippi by XARIS A. MARTÍNEZ May 2011 © 2011 Xaris A. Martínez ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT This thesis provides a contextual description and analysis of four southern fast day sermons delivered in the winter of 1860-61 by the following Presbyterian ministers: James Henley Thornwell (South Carolina), Benjamin Morgan Palmer (Louisiana), Robert Lewis Dabney (Virginia), and Robert Jefferson Breckinridge (Kentucky). The introduction provides a short history of the practice of communal fasting, a brief review of sermon scholarship, and a description of the book, Fast Day Sermons (1861), in which these four sermons were published.