About the Author
Jack Corp is a historian from the Ozarks studying the history of Christianity.
Document Type
Article
Abstract
This paper explores how the Southern Protestant clergy used classical antiquity to sustain the myth of the Lost Cause after the Civil War. By drawing on symbols, heroes, and moral lessons from ancient Greece and Rome, ministers re-framed the South's defeat and reinforced white supremacy. Faced with societal transformation and the collapse of the Confederacy, they employed these classical references to legitimize racial and political identities. Using Slavoj Žižek's critique of ideology, the paper argues that Southern ministers created a social reality through "imaginary identification," fostering a mythical, idealized vision of the past to sustain regional hegemony.
Recommended Citation
Corp, Jack
(2026)
"Oracles of Dixie: Southern Divines and the Classicisms of the Lost Cause,"
Madison Historical Review: Vol. 23, Article 6.
Available at:
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/mhr/vol23/iss1/6
