Welcome to the Official Website of Author and Lincoln Scholar
What Readers Are Saying...
Quiet Fire is a major contribution to Lincoln scholarship, and an intriguing, well crafted, and thoughtful read. Newcomer is a master jeweler, holding Lincoln as a multi-faceted diamond and turning his subject to show us the many facets of Lincoln’s spirituality. As a scholar-poet-psychotherapist-minister, he is uniquely qualified to reveal Lincoln’s spirituality in a way that is perceptive, sensitive, honest, and far ranging. Lincoln is complicated, especially his spirituality, and a linear treatment wouldn't do justice. So, it takes a multi-faceted author to properly address a multi-faceted subject.
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-Dr. Wayne Baker, Professor, University of Michigan​
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The main argument is very persuasive, and it is full of local insights. The chief thing I learned from this book is a new, non-dogmatic, non-denominational way to feel the power of religious themes (...) in politics and culture. [Newcomer has] a lot more to say about the religious quality of Lincoln's thinking than any one else I've read.
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-​Dr. John Burt, Professor of English, Brandeis University,
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[Newcomer has] produced a really interesting study of Lincoln, from an angle that is (as far as I know) unique. [Newcomer has] not only [examined Abraham Lincoln's] spirituality, but [reflected] on the nature of spirituality itself, and its possible roles in shaping character, values, behavior, [and] world view.
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-Dr. Richard Slotkin, Professor of American Studies, Wesleyan University & author of 'Abe: A Novel of the Young Lincoln' (2000)
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About the Author
Duncan Newcomer is a poet, psychotherapist and minister. In all these roles he teaches, searching to share a language of relationship that brings love to life. His poems have appeared in The Christian Century, The Smith, Gone Soft, and other journals. As a therapist, in addition to his private practice, he co-founded The Center for the Masculine Spiritual Journey in Connecticut, where he was also the Director of the Old Lyme Pastoral Counseling Center for a number of years. Rev. Dr. Newcomer has served United Churches of Christ and Presbyterian churches in Connecticut; Washington, DC; and Kentucky. He holds a Masters in Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and a Doctorate in Ministry from the Chicago Theological Seminary. He and his partner, the writer and teacher Rebecca Jessup, live in Belfast, Maine.
editorial Reviews
A timely echo of Lincoln's voice--to remind us of what Americans, at their best, aspire to be.
Richard S. Slotkin, author of Abe: A Novel of the Young Lincoln (2000)
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