Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?

ISBN 13:
9780664235048
ISBN 10:
0664235042
Format: Paperback
Copyright: 02/16/2011
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Pr
Newer Edition

Note: Not guaranteed to come with supplemental materials (access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.)

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Summary

Fea offers an even-handed primer on whether America was founded to be a Christian nation, as many evangelicals assert, or a secular state, as others contend. He approaches the title's question from a historical perspective, helping readers see past the emotional rhetoric of today to the recorded facts of our past. Readers on both sides of the issues will appreciate that this book occupies a middle ground, noting the good points and the less-nuanced arguments of both sides and leading us always back to the primary sources that our shared American history comprises.

List of Illustrations	p. xi
Preface	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xix
Introduction: How to Think Historically	p. xxi
The Search for a Usable Past	p. xxi
What Do Historians Do?	p. xxiii
The United States is a Christian Nation: The History of an Idea
Evangelical America, 1789-1865	p. 3
Christian Nationalism in the Early Republic	p. 4
The Election of 1800	p. 6
Whig Christian Nationalism	p. 7
A Christian Nation in Print	p. 8
Christian Nationalism in the Civil War North	p. 12
Christian Nationalism and the Confederate States of America	p. 17
Evangelicals, Liberals, and Christian America, 1865-1925	p. 22
A Christian Amendment to the Constitution	p. 22
An Evangelical Alliance: 1873	p. 25
Fundamentalism and Christian Civilization	p. 29
Liberal Protestantism and Christian America	p. 34
The Supreme Court and the Church of the Holy Trinity Case	p. 40
Christian America in a Modern Age, 1925-1980	p. 43
The Persistence of the Evangelical Pursuit of a Christian Nation	p. 43
Mainline Protestantism and Christian America	p. 46
Catholic Resurgence	p. 47
The Revival of Christian America: The 1950s	p. 50
Martin Luther King Jr.'s Vision for a Christian Nation	p. 51
The Religious Right and Christian Nationalism	p. 53
History for the Faithful: The Contemporary Defenders of Christian America	p. 57
Providence	p. 60
Christian Whig History	p. 66
The Founders and Christian Belief	p. 68
Religion and the Constitution	p. 69
Revisionism	p. 72
Suggested Reading for Part One	p. 76
Was the American Revolution A Christian Event?
Were the British Colonies Christian Societies?	p. 79
"Planting" versus "Founding"	p. 79
Jamestown	p. 80
Massachusetts Bay	p. 85
Christianity and the Coming of the American Revolution	p. 93
A Snapshot of the British-American Colonies in 1763	p. 93
The Stamp Act Crisis-1765	p. 97
The Stamp Act Crisis-1765	p. 97
The Townshend Duties	p. 100
The Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party	p. 102
The Coercive Acts	p. 104
The First Continental Congress	p. 105
The Revolutionary Pulpit	p. 108
Whig Sermons	p. 108
A Biblical Argument for Revolution	p. 113
Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2	p. 115
The Revolution as a "Just War"	p. 119
Nature's God: Is the Declaration of Independence a Christian Document?	p. 122
Religion and the Continental Congress	p. 123
The Declaration of Independence and "Original Intent"	p. 127
God and the Declaration of Independence	p. 131
Religion in the Critical Period	p. 134
Religion and the Articles of Confederation	p. 135
Virginia and the Quest for Religious Liberty	p. 137
Massachusetts and Religious Establishment	p. 141
Other States	p. 143
A "Godless Constitution"?	p. 147
The "Need" for a Constitution	p. 148
Religion and the Constitution	p. 150
Slavery and the Constitution	p. 153
The Federalist	p. 154
God and the Ratification Debate	p. 157
Religion and the States: The "Federalist" Interpretation of the Constitution	p. 160
Religion and the First Amendment	p. 162
A Wall of Separation between Church and State?	p. 163
Suggested Reading for Part Two	p. 168
The Religious Beliefs of the Founders
Did George Washington Pray at Valley Forge?	p. 171
Providence	p. 175
Church Involvement	p. 177
Washington's Beliefs	p. 179
Washington's Faith in Practice	p. 182
Communion	p. 184
Morality, Ethics, and Public Religion	p. 186
Religious Freedom	p. 188
John Adams: Devout Unitarian	p. 191
Adams and Christian Orthodoxy	p. 192
Clergy, Catholics, and Calvinists	p. 194
Religion, America, and the Public Good	p. 199
Thomas Jefferson: Follower of Jesus	p. 203
The Intelligent Creator	p. 204
Follower of Jesus	p. 205
Jefferson and His Bibles	p. 206
Religious Freedom	p. 209
The Dilemma of Slavery	p. 211
Benjamin Franklin: Ambitious Moralist	p. 216
A Puritan Childhood	p. 217
Was Franklin a Deist?	p. 218
A Religion of Virtue	p. 220
Franklin's Failures	p. 223
The Religion of the American Dream	p. 225
What about Witherspoon? Three Orthodox Founders	p. 228
John Witherspoon: Presbyterian Patriot	p. 229
John Jay: Christian Providentialist	p. 233
Samuel Adams: Puritan Republican	p. 237
Suggested Reading for Part Three	p. 243
Conclusion	p. 244
Notes	p. 247
Index	p. 275
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