General Lew Wallace Study & Museum

General Wallace was never an atheist. According to his Autobiography, published posthumously in 1907, he wrote that he was raised in the Christian tradition but wasn’t a devout follower: “At that time, speaking candidly, I was not in the least influenced by religious sentiment. I had no convictions about God or Christ. I neither believed nor disbelieved in them.”….

It was a chance train ride with Capt. Robert Ingersol that solidified Wallace’s desire to closely examine the life of Jesus….

So although Wallace never intended Ben-Hur to be a debunking of Christianity, he still found himself transfixed, and transformed, by the life of Jesus Christ….

Lew Wallace: Atheist?

Featured Image Credit: Materialscientist, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons