‘Robert E. Lee: A Life’, with Dr. Allen Guelzo
Life and Books and Everything
Clearly Reformed
4.6 • 635 Ratings
🗓️ 6 October 2021
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode, Kevin interviews Civil War historian Dr. Allen Guelzo , Senior Research Scholar at Princeton. Dr. Guelzo’s new biography of Robert E. Lee paints a portrait of neither a sinner nor a saint, but a full picture of a complex human being. Dr. Guelzo is a historian with a solid theological background. He and Kevin address how General Lee could be both opposed to slavery and commit treason to defend it. The South came very close to victory: How would that have changed history? How did Lee’s fatherlessness affect his leadership? And of course they cover the question of the removal of statues.
Life and Books and Everything is sponsored by Crossway, publisher of new books by Michael Reeves and Dane Ortlund .
For 30% off this book and all other books and Bibles at Crossway, sign up for a free Crossway+ account at crossway.org/LBE.
Timestamps:
Dr. Allen Guelzo, First-time Listener [1:02 – 2:47]
Guelzo’s Other Historical Works [2:47 – 12:53]
The Making of a Great Course [12:53 – 14:13]
Writing a Biography of Robert E. Lee [14:13 – 19:21]
What Movies Get Right and Wrong about Lee [19:21 – 24:47]
“…the biography of someone who commits treason?” [24:47 – 29:24]
A Christian Way of Doing History [29:24 – 36:18]
Neither Saint Nor Devil [36:18 – 44:41]
Robert, Son of the Great Light Horse Harry Lee [44:41 – 48:37]
Before and After the War [48:37 – 51:53]
What if the South had won? [51:33 – 58:30]
Lee and Slavery [58:30 – 1:04:20]
Should statues be removed? [1:04:20 – 1:09:22]
Books and Everything:
Robert E. Lee: A Life, by Allen Guelzo
Tenth Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia: 175 Years of Thinking and Acting Biblically, by Philip Graham Ryken
Edwards on the Will: A Century of American Theological Debate, by Allen Guelzo
Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President , by Allen Guelzo
Gettysburg: The Last Invasion , by Allen Guelzo
Redeeming the Great Emancipator , by Allen Guelzo, et al
Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction, by Allen Guelzo
Faith of the Fatherless, by Paul Vitz
“Of Monuments & Men,” by Allen C. Gue lzo and John M. Rudy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Greetings and salutations. Welcome back to Life and Books and Everything. I'm Kevin DeYoung, |
| 0:15.7 | and good to be with you and have a special guest that I'll be introducing in just a moment and want to thank again |
| 0:23.5 | our sponsor Crossway Publishing and encourage you to look at the newest books that they put out |
| 0:30.8 | by Michael Reeves and also there's a new one by Dane Ortland. Many of you listening this probably have read Dane's book, Gentle and Lowly. |
| 0:40.8 | They've probably read Michael Reeves book on the Trinity and others, and both of them have new books coming out. |
| 0:46.0 | They have a similar cover look. |
| 0:48.3 | And they are in this series that Union Seminary is doing over in where Michael is at over in the UK. |
| 0:59.7 | So check that out. |
| 1:00.9 | Thankful for Crossway. |
| 1:02.8 | And we have a, I have, it's just me, Colin and just are not with us, but a special guest here. |
| 1:08.6 | I'm very excited. |
| 1:09.4 | Dr. Allen Gelzo. Dr. Galso, thank you for being with us. |
| 1:14.7 | Pleasure to be here. And it's a very long introduction, which I found to give your whole bio and all your many books. |
| 1:24.3 | So I won't go through all of it, but you are currently teaching and |
| 1:28.7 | leading a government or policy institute at Princeton University. And before that, you have taught |
| 1:35.1 | at Gettysburg College. And way back when, at some point you were at Eastern, I believe. |
| 1:40.6 | Yes, that's right. Yeah, and have written many, many books. I have been wanting to talk to |
| 1:48.0 | Dr. Gelsho for some time. He doesn't know this, and he probably is a first-time listener right now |
| 1:55.4 | to life and books and everything. So glad to have him on. But I have read, oh, at least half a |
| 2:00.6 | dozen of your books and have benefited from all of them. |
| 2:04.3 | So I am glad to have you here in person. |
| 2:07.3 | And I've listened to, I don't know, there may not be too many of me out here, but I think I've listened to all of your courses on the great courses. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Clearly Reformed, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Clearly Reformed and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.