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1 results

  • Chapter 17 - Religion

  • from Part III - Historical and Cultural Contexts
  • Edited by John Bird
  • Book:
    Mark Twain in Context
    Published online:
    12 December 2019
    Print publication:
    02 January 2020, pp 171-181

  • Summary

    Religion was a force throughout Twain’s lifetime, early on as the strict Calvinism inherited from his mother, and later as he rebelled against orthodoxy. His reading of Thomas Paine at an early age introduced him to religious skepticism, which challenged the beliefs he held as a child. Despite his skepticism, he was very close with a number of clergymen, most notably his family minister Joseph Twichell, who may be considered his closest adult friend. He vowed to reform and become a devout Christian in order to marry Olivia Langdon, but his “reform” ended after a year or so. In many of his works, he satirically exposes religious hypocrisy, and in his later unpublished writing, most notably Letters from the Earth (not published until 1962), he expresses doubt and scorn for conventional Christianity.