The Debates
Ingersoll's published exchanges with the clergymen and statesmen who took him on. Each links to the full text.
Ingersoll vs. Field
- vs.
- Henry M. Field Presbyterian minister, editor of The New York Evangelist
A nine-essay back-and-forth that began with Field's open letter chiding Ingersoll for his attacks on orthodoxy and grew into one of the most-read religious controversies of the late 19th century. Ingersoll's replies are reprinted in full here.
Ingersoll vs. Gladstone
- vs.
- William E. Gladstone Four-time British Prime Minister
After Ingersoll's reply to Field, Gladstone himself entered the fray. Their exchange ranged across miracles, biblical inspiration, and the moral character of the Christian God. The American press treated it as a transatlantic event.
Six Interviews on Talmage
- vs.
- Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage Brooklyn Tabernacle preacher; one of the most popular evangelists of the era
Talmage devoted six successive Sunday sermons to attacking Ingersoll by name. Ingersoll responded with six newspaper interviews answering each sermon point by point. Witty, unsparing, and widely circulated.
Reply to Archdeacon Farrar
- vs.
- Frederic W. Farrar Archdeacon of Westminster, Anglican preacher
Farrar accused Ingersoll of stealing his moral teachings from Christianity while refusing to credit the source. Ingersoll's reply is one of his most pointed essays on the difference between morality and theology.
Reply to Dr. Lyman Abbott
- vs.
- Lyman Abbott Successor to Henry Ward Beecher at Plymouth Church, Brooklyn
A measured exchange with one of the more liberal Protestant clergy of the day; reveals where Ingersoll drew the line between merely modernized orthodoxy and a fully naturalistic ethics.
A Reply to Bishop Spalding
- vs.
- John Lancaster Spalding Roman Catholic Bishop of Peoria, Illinois
Spalding, the Catholic bishop of Ingersoll's own city, attacked his philosophy in a series of public addresses. Ingersoll's reply (collected after his death) defends the rights of conscience against ecclesiastical authority.
Reply to Drs. Thomas and Lorimer
- vs.
- Hiram W. Thomas & George C. Lorimer Methodist and Baptist clergymen, Chicago
Two Chicago ministers issued joint sermons attacking Ingersoll after a lecture in their city; he replied at length in print.
Reply to Rev. John Hall and Warner Van Norden
- vs.
- John Hall & Warner Van Norden Presbyterian minister and prominent New York layman
A short, sharp exchange typical of the back-and-forth Ingersoll carried on with metropolitan clergy throughout the 1880s.
Reply to the New York Clergy on Superstition
- vs.
- A coalition of New York City clergymen Multiple denominations
When clergy collectively denounced one of his New York lectures, Ingersoll answered en masse, a survey of the era's standard charges against freethought and his rebuttals to each.
A Reply to Rev. Dr. Plumb
- vs.
- Rev. Dr. Plumb Clergyman
A brief but characteristic exchange showing Ingersoll's preferred move: take the opponent's argument seriously, restate it fairly, and then dismantle it on its own terms.
A Reply to the Cincinnati Gazette
- vs.
- Editorial board, Cincinnati Gazette Newspaper editorial
An institutional rather than clerical opponent, a leading Midwestern newspaper editorial. The reply shows Ingersoll's habit of treating the press as an equal interlocutor.