entire history the Advocate has consistently sought to promote Christianity based on New Testament precedents. Views on war and government Lipscomb was deeply affected by the American Civil War, which prompted him to reevaluate his beliefs concerning the relationship between Christians and government. He shifted from being a strong supporter of American democracy to a more "Mennonite-like" view, no longer believing that Christians should participate in war or actively participate in government. The distinction between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world became central to his thinking. Lipscomb expressed these views during the war in the Gospel Advocate and after the war in a book titled Civil Government. Because he actively opposed the participation of Christians in war, he was often viewed as a traitor to the Confederate States of America and later to the United States. Lipscomb did believe the war had served a positive purpose by freeing the slaves, although he challenged the American Christian Missionary Society's support of the war. The radical libertarian scholar Edward Stringham has argued that Lipscomb had independently questioned common assumptions such as these: Governments need to make laws. Governments are created for the public good. Democracy is for the common good. Stringham further describes Lipscomb as arguing as follows: Governments may seek to increase disorder to expand their power. People should abstain from voting, instead seeking change through persuasive and non-coercive methods. Peaceful civilization is not dependent on the state. Governments are created for the benefit of the rulers, not the people. Nashville Bible School Lipscomb for a time was a prosperous farmer in addition to his religious activities, at one time operating his own ferry across the Cumberland River from his farm north of Nashville to the side of the river on which the main part of the city was located. He eventually relocated to an estate south of Nashville. Today, this estate is the campus of Lipscomb University. The log house in which he lived on his former farm has been dismantled and re-erected adjacent to his later home, which is used by the university for some social occasions. In 1891, Lipscomb and James A. Harding founded the Nashville Bible School, the precursor to the current Lipscomb University, which was not named for him until after his death. As Lipscomb was a product of the predominant Southern culture of the time, this institution was segregated and was