God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution

by Thomas S. Kidd

Before the Revolutionary War, America was a nation divided by different faiths. But when the war for independence sparked in 1776, colonists united under the banner of religious freedom. Evangelical frontiersmen and Deist intellectuals set aside their differences to defend a belief they shared, the right to worship freely. Inspiring an unlikely but powerful alliance, it was the idea of religious liberty that brought the colonists together in the battle against British tyranny. In God of Liberty , historian Thomas S. Kidd argues that the improbable partnership of evangelicals and Deists saw America through the Revolutionary War, the ratification of the Constitution, and the election of Thomas Jefferson in 1800. A thought-provoking reminder of the crucial role religion played in the Revolutionary era, God of Liberty represents both a timely appeal for spiritual diversity and a groundbreaking excavation of how faith powered the American Revolution.

Genres: History, American History, Religion, Nonfiction, Church History, Christian, Christianity

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 5, 2010

About the author

Thomas S. Kidd teaches history at Baylor University, and is Senior Fellow at Baylor's Institute for Studies of Religion. Dr. Kidd has appeared on the Glenn Beck tv program, the Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Prager radio shows, and written columns for USA Today and the Washington Post. He is a columnist for Patheos.com. His latest book is Patrick Henry: First Among Patriots. Other books include God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution. His next book projects are a biography of George Whitefield, and a history of Baptists in America.

Reviews

[Zach Hollifield · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent history. Details the contribution of evangelical Christianity on the Revolution of the American colonies and the founding of the United States. The chapter on slavery is heartbreaking.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting introduction to the religious and philosophical climate in the US during the American Revolution and the writing of the Constitution. By a Baylor prof so it has a bit of a Baptist focus, but still worth a read!

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an amazingly complete look at the American Revolution’s religious history. Very very thorough which bogged down the flow of the book at times but it still was very good. I really enjoyed it!

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

If the relationship between religion and our national life in the U.S. were a Facebook status, it would be "it's complicated". Truth is, it always has been, according to Thomas S. Kidd.

In this "religious history of the American Revolution" Kidd gives us a highly readable yet nuanced account of our early religious history which avoids either the "Christian America" or "secular state" options. Nothing illustrates this more than the relationship between Baptist evangelist, John Leland and Thomas Jefferson. These were strange bedfellows to be sure and yet both were agreed on one crucial issue, the disestablishment of religion and the promotion of religious liberty for all Americans.

Kidd documents that this passion for liberty, first from the British establishment, and then from any establishment of a particular church was in fact the meeting place between much of the evangelical movement that arose out of the first Great Awakening, and the by and large Unitarian deists and skeptics who were among many of our "Founding Fathers". Both recognized the vital importance of religion in energizing the rebellion against Great Britain, which accounted for the wide support of military chaplains during the war. Both recognized the importance of religion for the encouragement of sacrifice and public virtue. And both opposed state supported churches that privileged one denomination with tax revenues, and often excluded from public office those unwilling to meet religious tests.

The book also chronicles the fateful concurrence particularly between New England religious leaders and Thomas Jefferson in the statement in our Declaration of Independence that "all men are created equal, that they endowed by their Creator with certain Unalienable rights". Intended to assert American equality with the British, it also underscored the deep inconsistency within our country of oppressing Native Americans and enslaving Africans. Kidd explores how this piece of our religious history set up a tension not only between sections of the country but even within the lives of people like Jefferson who both trembled at the consequences of slavery for the country and yet held slaves until he died.

What Kidd argues is that the evidence of these early years presents a picture of public expression of religious faith without state establishment of religious institutions. None envisioned the complete exclusion of matters of faith from public life. In fact, the disestablishment of religion was believed to be a vitalizing factor that even contributed to subsequent religious awakenings and the exceptional vibrancy of religion in American life, a fact noted by de Tocqueville. He sums up the agreement between the evangelicals and the founders as follows, "The founders' religious agreement was on public values, not private doctrines" (p. 254). He warns against things like divine providentialism supporting every conceivable conflict and the kinds of "Christian America" rhetoric seen in some quarters today. Yet none of this argues against the importance of religion in public life, particularly to advance commonly held values.

The only reservation I have here is that this can sometimes smack of a pragmatism that uses religious faith for political ends. While people of faith should be welcomed in public life and discourse, they also need to be watchful for being used (and duped) for political ends inconsistent with their most deeply held principles.

[Jason Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this day we often think of all Christians being a unified voting block that will go conservative. In the time of the Revolution religious difference was denominational and it was important and it defined how charters for ccolonies had been written. This book pulls together a lot of disparate histories and gives the reader a good entry into understanding just how complex the history of this country is and why the short sighted politicians of today just don't stack up against those statesmen and women we had previously.

[Michael Connolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading a book I would highly recommend to anyone who cherishes democracy. God of Liberty written by Thomas Kidd, a professor at Baylor University, recounts the significant role that religion played in uniting colonists during the American Revolution of 1775 and in the subsequent formation of American democracy.
Although America was a nation of many religious persuasions, (i.e. Baptists, Calvinists, Presbyterians, Quakers, Deists Unitarians, Episcopalians), five religious ideas connected Americans of different religious persuasions in pursuing liberty and independence.
1. The disestablishment of state churches a movement that promoted the idea of the separation of church and state
2. The idea that God was the guarantor of fundamental human rights: “We hold these rights to be self-evident that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” –Declaration of Independence
3. The threat to states, institutions and community posed by human sinfulness
4. That conviction that a republic needed to be sustained by public virtue and that in the absence of public virtue anarchy would ensure which would lead to the rise of an autocrat.
5. The belief that God—or Providence—moved in and through nations
Reading this book, I was reminded of the Founding Fathers’ conviction that only if a nation’s citizens and its leaders embraced public virtue could a nation hope to preserve good government. Public virtue included honesty, self-sacrifice, and good will towards others. Our Founding Fathers’ believed that religion provided the foundation on which public virtue was built.
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness—these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. …and let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion.” George Washington’s Farewell Address 1796

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book examining the role Christians played leading up to, through, and after the American Revolution. Kidd shows how Christians thought, prayed, and preached in the era. He examines the historical record to understand the role of public religion in the shaping of American government. I was fascinated by the way pastors confused issues in the spiritual realm with those of the civil realm. Pastors of the era seemingly saw the dawn of the American experiment as a harbinger of the millennium, as well as silly conspiracy theories about Catholics and "Popery."

"The more things change, the more they stay the same." Christians have a tendency to confuse spiritual and political matters--salvation, freedom, liberty, and equality. This was rampant during the revolutionary era, and it remains so in ours. Reading about another era can help enlighten our own and give a greater understanding to how a Christian should live in a free society.

This is an important book--one more people should read.

[J. J.]

Answered some questions I’ve been asking for most of my life about the precise relationship between Christianity and the founding of our nation. Kidd also gives the origin of our denominations, as well as a concise but illuminating understanding of the Great Awakenings. An indispensable book. It’s being said so often that it’s become accepted as a truism. “We are living in unprecedented times.” Read Kidd and discover how our forefathers said the exact same thing and felt equally convinced. His closing cautions and applications alone are worth the price of the book.

[Tommy Kiedis · Rating 5 out of 5]

In God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution Thomas Kidd delivers a thorough, fair, and enlightening one-volume treatment of the role of religion in the American Revolution. If anything, Kidd demonstrates that in contrast to those who contend for a monolithic American foundation . . . "it's much more complicated than that!"

Evangelicals and deists, church and state, establishment and disestablishment, slavery and abolitionists are all given their due. Those who desire a single theme to dominate this narrative will be disappointed. McCullough's 1776 gives us the triumph of the Revolutionary American spirit; Gary Wills, Under God provides helpful treatment of religion as a historical foil to a 20th century presidential race; but here, Thomas Kidd delivers religion in early America with all it's complexity, beauty, animosity, and sometimes appalling details.

I think his treatment provides a necessary corrective to both the trend toward a secular America and the slippery slope of Christian nationalism. Careful scholarship, writing void of prejudice, the uncovering of opaque but important actors in our historical drama, thorough treatment, and 300 pages of exceptional education are why I give this book five stars. Thank you, Dr. Kidd for this wonderful volume.

Let's see if I can keep my observations to ten:

1. Unlikely bedfellows: Thomas Jefferson and John Leland. On New Year's Day, 1802, John Leland, a Baptist evangelist delivered a 1,235 pound block of cheese to Jefferson. What would bind the heart of a an evangelical devoted to Christ to the politics of one who denied the Savior? "They shared the view that the state should assure religious liberty for all its citizens" (5). At that point in history, America was still tethered to the British practice of a state church. Actually, according to Kidd, deists and evangelicals share five tenets: 1. Disestablishment of state churches, 2. A creator God as the guarantor of fundamental human rights, 3. The threat to polity posed by human sinfulness, 4. A republic needed to be sustained by virtue, 5. God--or Providence--moved in and through the nations (7-9).

2. John Adams and Liberty: To Adams, human liberty was a theological outworking: "Liberty must at all hazards be supported," because all people had "a right to it, derived from our Maker" (12). Although Adams had abandoned his Puritan heritage, he "still lived in the essentially conservative political and religious milieu from by New England's Puritan fathers" (13). This accounts for the way he and others framed the struggle with Britain in moral terms. This theological vantage point was complicated by the Protestant/Catholic struggles in the monarchy in the 16th and 17th centuries. As a result of Catholic persecution, "English Protestants came to identify their faith with liberty, while associating the forces of Catholicism with slavery and the loss of religious freedom" (19). Liberty and religion were joined at the historical hip. Consequently, two religious issues impacted the American Revolution: (1) the possibility of an American Anglican Bishop, and Britain's welcoming policy toward Catholics reflected in the Quebec Act of 1774. (59).

3. The incongruity, inconsistency, and erroneous beliefs of some religious "heroes." Kidd demonstrates that everyone has clay feet. While not out to demonize the "greats" of the faith, his historical detail reveals errors that are often ignored in appreciation for achievements of Preachers (), chaplains (Israel Evans/"sanctifying the American Revolution, including savagery toward Native American [see 122f]), hymn writers (Isaac Watts/eschatology, 25), evangelists (George Whitefield/slavery), and statesmen (Patrick Henry/who condemned it while practicing it).

4. The roots of cultural Christianity. Despite many forefathers fleeing Great Britain for "religious liberty" in America, that "freedom" only extended so far. In Massachusetts, non-Puritans were free to remain, but expected to attend church and conform to Puritan standards of public morality" (40). In Pennsylvania, officeholders had to declare faith in God and the Christian Bible by swearing, "I do believe in one God, the creator and governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good and punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration" (170). In Vermont, officeholders had to be Protestants and profess belief in the authority of Old and New Testaments (170). Kidd notes, "Some Patriots (e.g. Benjamin Rush) posited an almost unbreakable link between Christianity and republican government. . . . By the 1780s Rush had come to believe that Christianity and republicanism served essentially the identical aim: To bring about the happiness and liberty of people" (110).

5. Disestablishment and the "Separation of Church and State. I think Kidd shines brightest here and on matters of slavery. He writes (and demonstrates throughout the book)

In the years leading up to the American Revolution, Enlightenment liberals and dissenters were clamoring for full religious liberty--which means the elimination of official state churches, religious taxes, and religious test for service in public office. But the dissenting evangelicals, and most of the liberal allies, hardly imagined that separation of church and state meant that religion should be only private, personal, and apolitical. That concept would only appear more recently, in the twentieth century (40).

Jefferson's "wall of separation" was designed top protect the religious liberties of all, not enforce secularism (52, 55). Prior to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, non-Anglican preachers could be fined for preaching the gospel. "Jefferson and Madison helped end legal penalties against dissenters and temporarily stop state funding for the Church of England (which would be called the Episcopal Church after independence was achieved), (54). See also pages 180ff for the route taken by many states.

6. The evangelical roots of revolution.
When it came to Congregationalists, Presbyterians, and Baptists, Edmund Burke, the British parliamentarian, said "their brand of Protestantism not only favored liberty, it was 'built upon it'" (75).

7. Yes, it is a little more complicated than that."
The use of "unalienable right" (roots in John Locke's philosophy and John Cleaveland's preaching (1763), according to Kidd, demonstrates "the folly of trying to separate the sources of revolutionary ideology into 'secular' or 'religious' categories: Patriots drew on religious sources as well as Enlightenment philosophers like Locke and saw no contradiction between them" (81).

8. America and Virtue.
"Adams feared that the extravagance of the American people would steal their attention from their most precious jewel: liberty" (98). Adams had Sparta in mind, a republic where citizens subjugated their individual rights for the common good. More than that, he envisioned a Christian Sparta -- "a republic with both the ideals and the spiritual motivation to maintain the common good" (99). This is interesting in that he abandoned his Puritan heritage in favor of Unitarianism.

9. The Danger of Providentialism.
Kidd does not hold back from describing the great atrocities committed "in the name of God."

By the war's end, Occom's dire predictions had come true. He believed that the American Revolution had damaged Native American communities more than any other force in his lifetime. Occom bitterly wrote that his former friend, the Presbyterian missionary Samuel Kirkland, 'went with an army against the poor Indians, and he has prejudiced the minds of Indians against all missionaries, especially against white missionaries, seven times more than anything, that ever was done by the white people (129).

Kidd concludes chapter 6, "A Time of War" with these words: "Using God's might and right to justify one's cause can easily obscure the complexity or injustice of war. Providentialism was the most morally problematic religious principle of the Revolution (130).

10. America and the Evil of Slavery.
In Chapter 7, "God Has Made Of One Blood All Nations Of Men," Kidd shows that despite the actions of many Revolutionary leaders (Washington and Jefferson for instance), the American Revolution "severely undermined slavery's ideological foundation" (133). Kidd does not offer this as an excuse for the atrocity of slavery, but to demonstrate that "Jefferson recognized that the wording of the Declaration of Independence would root his case for the equality in the widely assumed common creation of mankind by God--and thus provide a more transcendent basis for equality than merely referring to the rights of Englishmen or to simple reason (142).

The consequences of the Revolution for African Americans reveal the era's greatest moral failing. The moral struggle for independence implied a promise to end American slavery--a promise the Revolution did not fulfill. . . .The Revolution unleashed an unprecedented flood of antislavery thought, much of which came from Evangelical Christian sources" (148).

While the challenge to slavery did not come from those notable champions of "freedom," it did from "northern evangelical Calvinists, the tradition that transformed Lemuel Haynes and many others into antislavery polemicist" (152). See also pages 165.

Key Legislative Acts and Individual Publications:

1774 - The Tea Act: Granted the East India Company a monopoly to sell tea in the colonies (66).

1774 - The Intolerable Acts of 1774: Closed Boston to commercial ships, reorganized the Massachusetts government under British Authority, forcibly housed British troops in American homes (66).

1774 - The Quebec Act of 1774: Granted French Canadian Catholics the freedom to practice their religion openly and extended Quebec's border down the Ohio River (67) Kidd notes that the Quebec Act fanned the flames of "anti-popery," i.e. tyrannical abuse of power and so tied a knot between religious liberty and "liberty" as we often think of it (73). Americans feared their loss of religious liberty and so some spiritualized the political conflict. In Common Sense Thomas Paine asserted that "Monarch in every instance is the Popery of government" (73).

1775 - "His Excellency General Washington" poem by Phillis Wheatley

1776 - Common Sense: Kidd declares: "The most influential political pamphlet in American history." Note, Paine (though secular) appropriated biblical arguments and evangelical rhetoric throughout his pamphlet (88).

1794 - The Age Of Reason: Thomas Paine's attack on traditional Christian faith.

1776 - Thoughts on Government To Adams, the role of government was the happiness of society and that lay in possessing and demonstrating virtue (109).

Quotes worth quoting:

1. James Madison (The Federalist): "If men were angels, no government would be necessary" (219).
2. George Washington (1776): "A new government requires infinite care and unbounded attention, for if the new foundation is badly laid, the superstructure must be bad" (p. 109).
3. George Washington (1785): "We must take human nature as we find it. Perfection falls not to the share of mortals" (209).
4. George Washington (1786): With respect to unselfishness needed to maintain the Republic, "Virtue, I fear, has, in a great degree, taken its departure from our land" (211).
5. William Linn (former Continental Army chaplain in reference to Jefferson's quote on his neighbor being an atheist): "Let my neighbor once persuade himself that there is no God, and he will soon pick my pocket, and break not only my leg but my neck" (237).

Recommendation:
I highly recommend God of Liberty for the education and for the corrective it provides against national secularism without promoting a notion of Christian nationalism. God of Liberty helps one shine the historical flashlight on proposed legislation, e.g. "The Equality Act, with a more careful light when it comes to liberty and justice for all.

Returning to Jefferson, the Baptists, and disestablishment, Kidd notes "The experience of both Jefferson and evangelicals during the revolutionary era taught them that the great danger to liberty arose when governments created or sponsored religious establishment or prevented the free exercise of religion. But they hardly envisioned a secular republic; such a concept was almost incomprehensible in the mental world of the followers" (243). Kidd helps us see that such a concept should be incomprehensible to us as well.

[Adam Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short review: This is a good supplement to revolutionary history. Thomas Kidd is particularly paying attention to religious history here. I just finished reading Mark Noll's In the Beginning Was the Word, which is particularly a history of how scripture was used in North American from 1492 until 1783. The two books are helpful together. Kidd is showing the broader history, Noll is showing the more particular use of scripture and how that effected the colonial self understanding and how that compared to British scripture uses.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/god-of-liberty/

[Jeremy Canipe · Rating 4 out of 5]

In God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution, Professor Thomas S. Kidd of Baylor University provides a well-written study on the influence of religion upon the entire era of the American Revolution. His book is built on extensive primary sources and a sure-footed command of secondary sources.

Dr. Kidd explains that both secular scholars and some American Christians have misunderstood this topic. On the one hand, the secular bent of modern historians tends to lead them to overestimate the secularization of the leading members of the Revolutionary generation and to conclude that the nation that the led was not religious and certainly not Christian in character. On the other hands, American Christians can tend to make the opposite error, conflating language about providence and God as creator and an insistence that religion is the only sure foundation for a republic with the leap to these same Revolutionary luminaries being orthodox Biblical Christians and America as being founded as wholly Christian nation. Neither side has it right.

At the begging of his book, Dr. Kidd asserted that Enlightenment-influenced leaders, such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, as well as orthodox and even evangelical Christians in the colonies did unite amount five key religious beliefs. This agreement did not mean that Jefferson, Franklin, and others of similarly disposed minds agreed with key Christian doctrine such as the infallibility of the Bible, Jesus’ divinity, the Resurrection, and the Gospel itself; however, they did agree on certain points that had public-policy implications.

Kidd writes that “[i]n the public realm, however, five different religious belief connected far-flung and widely varied Americans [from evangelicals to deists]...the disestablishment of state churches....the idea of a creator God as the guarantor of fundamental human rights...the threat to the polity posed by human sinfulness...that a republic needed to be sustained by virtue..[and] the belief that God - or Providence, as deists and others might prefer to deem it - moved in and through nations." (p. 6 – p. 8).

To build the foundation his argument, Thomas Kidd begins with English religious history and the Reformation. What he does not say exactly, but which I think is reasonable, is that the Catholic-Protestant conflict and distrust of the Reformation was particularly acute in England due to successive monarchs of both sides of the dispute in England who often, especially on the Catholic side, truly harassed and even martyred English people of the contrary faith. Thus, not only did colonists react with alarm at the seemingly sinful acts of Parliament and king in gong beyond their powers, alarm bells also sounded when allowed the newly-acquired and formerly French provinces of Canada to maintain its Catholicism and sought to install an Anglican bishop in the American colonies, which had established churches of other Protestant denominations. "With the conflict growing on all fronts, the colonists merged their fear of an Anglican bishop with broader concerns about the loss of all political and religious liberty through absolute tyranny that portend the advent of Catholicism" not just fears of enforced Anglicanism. (p. 66).

After the Revolution, the foreswearing of a national church in the First Amendment to the Constitution and the voluntary disestablishment of churches in many American states signaled a tremendous shift in church-governmental relations in the new nation. "But in spite of the serious reservations about the viability of virtue as sustenance for the republican experiment, through the era of the Civil War, most Americans would continue to believe that the Christian religion should assist government in lifting people's moral dispositions, so that they might contribute to the freedom of the Republic.". ( p. 114). A majority Americans, regardless of religious beliefs, held that religious belief alone could create a moral people capable of self-governance.

Thus, "[w]hen [Thomas] Jefferson [a deist and foremost American proponent of the Enlightenment] needed a firm foundation for his plea for American rights [in the Declaration of Independence], he turned to the broadly accepted notion of equality by creation." (p.141). While Jefferson does seem to have had more of a concept of freedom of religion, his deistic tendencies seems more objectionable to many Americans in light of the violently secular turn of the French Revolution, with many hundreds of Catholic clergy put to death, and thousands more forced into exile. "During the 1800 election, Jefferson's purported penchant for French atheism became one of the issues that most divided Americans....Some of Jefferson's supporters... emphasized that Jefferson was the candidate of religious freedom." (p. 235, p. 237).

As the history covered by Kidd draws to a close, he again returns to his opening point, namely how American Christians and American secularists have misunderstood each other. He also points out again the close partnership between deists Jefferson and James Madison and Baptists in crafting American freedom of religion. Perhaps such hopefulness seems distant today as the secular Left seeks to wield the club of the law to batter Christians.

[Michael Jolls · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a masterful book that will make the reader repeatedly think: "Oh, so that's where that came from.", as it's one of the bests about America's founding. It's packed with so many interesting details that "God of Liberty" becomes nearly impossible to retain everything in one reading, yet it greatly enriches understanding to America's founding. Kidd presents an entire fifty/sixty-ish year saga (1750s to 1800s) through the prism of religious convictions and beliefs. Influences from France and Great Britain, resulting in what the colonists retained across the Atlantic Ocean, and how the various denominations sprung up across the colonies. Most importantly, "God of Liberty" details the fears citizens had about religion(s) being imposed from overseas forces.

[Clifton Rankin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas S. Kidd has done America a great service by writing, “God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution.” By dealing with different topics, he relates how our country evolved from colonies with state religions, to the religious liberty codified in the Constitution. The author writes well, and while this is a serious historical work, it is very informative and readable. He touches on the Puritans, Anglicans, Quakers, Baptists, Methodists, religious awakenings, and the peculiar alliance of the enlightenment thinkers and evangelicals who though having very different theological beliefs united around a desire for full religious liberty. (321 pages)

[Jon Amos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evangelicalism is currently experiencing an identity crisis. If there was ever a time where a book such as this was needed, it is now. With diligent research and clarity of thought, Thomas Kidd gives us a comprehensive overview of the complex relationship between Christianity and the American Revolution. In doing so, he provides a solid foundation for both the religious and the secular to understand the role of religion in American Democracy while offering historical analysis of its benefits and its dangers.

[Hank Pharis · Rating 3 out of 5]

(NOTE: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book or a B. 3 stars means a very good book or a B+. 4 stars means an outstanding book or an A {only about 5% of the books I read merit 4 stars}. 5 stars means an all time favorite or an A+ {Only one of 400 or 500 books rates this!).

This is very good. I hope to do a real review someday.

[Mr. V · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it to be very informative and learned about how religious groups changed from the initial colonization up to and after the revolution. The first few chapters were a hard read but as the book went on the writing improved greatly.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kidd provides an excellent overview of how religion and politics intertwined to support the concept of revolution and breaking away from Britain. The difficulty of addressing liberty while still enslaving 500,000 Americans is also addressed.

[Praiseworthy Pursuits · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual, Thomas Kidd provides an insightful look at the role of religion in the development of the new American nation. Of great interest are the conclusions that he draws about lessons learned and implications for the modern era.

[Brady Graves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and succinct survey of the relationship between Christianity and the American Revolution. Kidd posits that the Rationalist deists and the new Evangelicals were strange-yet-effective bedfellows that successfully allied for religious liberty in the new republic

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

"One of the greatest accomplishments of the American Revolution was the ingenious balance between religious liberty and religious strength." (p. 256)

[Piper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and informative.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy and exciting read. Going to read a second time soon.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good historical account of how religion effected the founding of the US.

[Aden Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful place to start for those interested in the history of religion during the founding period of America.

Read for Dr. Kidd’s class Spring 2024.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, good book. By this point I’ve read some 20 books on the Revolutionary and Founding period, and none of them takes this perspective. It’s great to keep reading on this era and still gain new insights. I don’t love the way the book was organized, but he hit it home with the Epilogue. The end of the book brought it home for me.

[Gabrielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the chapters are organized in a way that I found haphazard. Others (chapter 9 on the Constitution) were fabulous.

[Philip Tadros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling but somewhat belaboured.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb. If you are a geezer like me (a baby boomer), you learned a lot of this in school. If you are a Gen Xer, Y, or millennial, you probably haven't heard this and need to.
The book discusses the religious background of the American Founders and their age. Uniquely, in the American colonies, evangelical Christians and Enlightenment Deists (Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Madison), made common cause in advocating for disestablishment of religion, in their common belief that the Creator of all wants liberty and freedom of conscience for humankind. The Founders wanted--and gave us--a secular government, but NOT a secular populace or secular society. Quite the opposite, They believed that in the absence of a powerful state, the populace must have internal sources of virtue and restraint, and that *only* religion can provide that. Examples abound: Washington insisted on chaplains in his army regiments, Adams urged prayers and fasting for victory, Franklin the skeptic said that only if we maintain our virtue and morality will God give the Americans a victory. Adams (a Unitarian) called America the "Christian Sparta," Washington's Farewell address called religion "indispensable" to political prosperity/ Religion must be "protected" but not "established," government must not be hostile to religious institutions, but require no religious test.
.
So today the Founders could well be considered religious fanatics, bigots, or worse. Today's evangelicals might find their forerunners too lenient. The final chapter, outlining de Tocqueville's observations of America circa 1830 is simply wonderful to read. Religion gives liberty its moral purpose, precluding the descent into Terror that contemporaneous France underwent. There is much more, including discussion of the Revolution's one great moral failure--you know what it is. Read this book to enlighten your mind. They weren't just a bunch of "dead white men" with nothing to teach us.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the blurbs (esp. Noll, Stout, and Marsden) I expected more of this book. Yes, it provides a history of religion and the American Revolution. It is not exactly a synthesis, primary sources heavily outweigh other secondary texts in his footnotes, and it does not do much to offer a comprehensive argument beyond evangelicals and rationalists came together to create American religious freedoms and the beginnings of American civil religion. The first argument is much better described than the latter, which seems to be asserted at the beginning and the end. The book is well researched (at least among primary sources), but is not vigorously argued. The book's individual chapters seem to be discrete arguments/descriptions and not part of one larger or continuous argument (beyond maybe, yep, religion was involved). You get details throughout, but the forest of larger, overarching narrative is lost to the trees of specific examples. So useful and interesting, but not definitive or revelation.

[Greg Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

*God of Liberty* was helpful to me in making connections, linking strands in the stew of ideas, events, and personalities during the Revolutionary period that led to the United States as we know it. I learned some new things--the importance of the "Intolerable Acts," for instance--but mostly Kidd helped me gain a clearer picture of what the founders actually believed and why they shaped the new republic as they did. His conclusion--that the prominent place the founders gave to religion was due less to their own theological convictions than to a perceived need for "public virtue"--seems reasonable and accurate to me.

I listened to this book, and I must say that the audiobook is among the poorer ones I have heard. The narrator mispronounced numerous names and words, and spoke in an odd, clipped cadence. I think I would have enjoyed the print book more.