From Confederate Deserter to Decorated Veteran Bible Scholar: Exploring the Enigmatic Life of C.I. Scofield 1861-1921.

<p>Cyrus Ingerson Scofield portrayed himself as a decorated Confederate veteran, a successful lawyer, and a Bible scholar who was providentially destined to edit his 1909 dispensational opus, <em>The Scofield Reference Bible</em>. This thesis offers a multilayered image of Dr. Scofield's life by considering political and regional influences, racial and gender attitudes, and religious views he encountered between 1861 and 1921. This study includes an examination of his participation in the American Civil War including his desertion of the South in 1862. After becoming a Union loyalist, Scofield excelled as a lawyer and Republican politician before corruption rumors radically altered his life in 1874. By 1882, he emerged as a minister in Dallas, Texas where he built an image as a Confederate veteran and Bible scholar. Drawing on Scofield's manuscripts and other sources, this study shows the self-aggrandizing Bible editor consistently adapted his life and rhetoric to his regional and social circumstances.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MA (Master of Arts)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - unrestricted

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Rushing, D. Jean

• Texas
• Dallas
• Lost Cause
• The Scofield Reference Bible
• fundamentalism
• dispensationalism
• CI. Scofield.
• Arts and Humanities
• History
• United States History

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright by the authors.

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1380

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-2571