Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest statesmen in American history, and his speeches and spirit have since defined the soul of our nation. How did a man with no religious training or church membership give such profoundly religious interpretations of American history? How did he make sense of American democracy amid a bloody and terrible Civil War, when everyone from theologians to ordinary churchgoers struggled to understand the meaning of their lives and America’s destiny? In this seminar course, we will explore Abraham Lincoln’s understanding of religion, America, and the meaning of our history, through his speeches, letters, and other sources. Strikingly original in their time, and still relevant today, we will examine Lincoln’s ideas about God and their sources in the Hebrew Bible and elsewhere.