"Painting a panorama of the colorful quarter century before the Civil War, Otto Scott's prose captures the contemporary passions of a period of intense abolitionist feeling, the heat of the adamant pro-slavery faction, and the lively personalities who made the issues burst into flames. This moving view of the end of the Jefferson Republic provides an historical viewpoint on political extremism that has compelling relevance in our own time." --Page [3] of cover.

Originally published: New York, N.Y.: Mason & Lipscomb Publishers, 1974.

This issue of the Journal of Christian Reconstruction focuses on the specific and immediate application of Christian Reconstruction in our society today. Our major concern in this symposium is not with long-term future scenarios, such as a vast revival (although we pray for it every day), or some type of economic crisis (although this is likely enough), but with what we can trace of the blessed work of the Holy Spirit in applying the transforming Gospel of grace to all areas of our contemporary life and society here and now. We conservative Christians have been fairly adept at discerning and describing the evils and impending disasters of our time. Calling evil by its true name is after all an important part of any biblically based prophetic ministry. Diagnosis is an essential part of the curative process in medicine, theology, and every other field. But at the same time, many of us have so tended to focus on the diagnosis of evil that we have failed to look up and see the widespread healing and impartation of new life that is going on all around us.

J. B. Saunders was a pioneer in developing Triangle Refineries, Inc., in 1937 and several of his innovations for the refining process have been adopted around the world. His company later became part of the expanding Oil Industries, and Saunders eventually became vice chairman and senior vice president at Kerr-McGee.