During the 250th anniversary of American independence, questions have resurfaced about the original principles of the nation’s Founding Fathers alongside modern worries regarding “Christian Nationalism.”Thomas Jefferson and The God Who Gave Us Liberty goes to the core of these questions with evidence never seen before. Drawing from their larger work, Doubting Thomas?, the authors present a powerful but cogent study of Thomas Jefferson, the author ...

A religious historian argues that historical revisionism has distorted the religious views of Thomas Jefferson, making him appear far more skeptical than he was.Thomas Jefferson and the founding fathers intended a strict separation of church and state, right? He would have been very upset to find out about a child praying in a public school or a government building used for religious purposes, correct? Actually, the history on this has been very distorted. The stan...

"[A] fast-paced and elegant. . . . stimulating . . . first-rate biography . . .of a much-neglected figure in early American religious history." — Publishers Weekly, starred reviewIn 1637, Anne Hutchinson, a forty-six-year-old midwife who was pregnant with her sixteenth child, stood before forty male judges of the Massachusetts General Court, charged with heresy and sedition. In a time when women could not vote, hold publi...

In this “triumph of learning and understanding” (James Grant, author of John Adams: A Party of One**), the comprehensive biography of Samuel Adams, the moral compass of the American Revolution. Perfect for fans of Walter Isaacson and David McCullough.**Long overlooked, Samuel Adams was, according to Thomas Jefferson, “truly the man of the Revolution.” Now, with eloquence and insight, Ira Stoll effortlessly illustrates how crucial Adams was...

"Witham's highly readable history of the American sermon strongly bolsters the contention that words change minds and alter the course of events." — BooklistPivotal moments in U.S. history are indelibly marked by the sermons of the nation's greatest orators . From colonial times to the present, the sermon has motivated Americans to fight wars as well as fight for peace. Sermons have provoked the mob mentality of witch hunts and blacklists, but they...

Jonathan Edwards (17031758) is a towering figure in American history. A controversial theologian and the author of the famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, he ignited the momentous Great Awakening of the eighteenth century.In this definitive and long-awaited biography, Jonathan Edwards emerges as both a great American and a brilliant Christian. George Marsden evokes the world of colonial New England in which Edwards was reared-a frontier civilization a...

"Ryken's Worldly Saints offers a fine introduction to seventeenth-century Puritanism in its English and American contexts. The work is rich in quotations from Puritan worthies and is ideally suited to general readers who have not delved widely into Puritan literature. It will also be a source of information and inspiration to those who seek a clearer understanding of the Puritan roots of American Christianity." -Harry Stout, Yale University "…the typical Puritans were not wild men, fierce ...

In 1692 Puritan Samuel Sewall sent twenty people to their deaths on trumped-up witchcraft charges. The nefarious witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts represent a low point of American history, made famous in works by Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne (himself a descendant of one of the judges), and Arthur Miller. The trials might have doomed Sewall to infamy except for a courageous act of contrition now commemorated in a mural that hangs beneath the golden dome of the Massachusetts State Hou...

The culture wars have distorted the dramatic story of how Americans came to worship freely. Many activists on the right maintain that the United States was founded as a “Christian nation.” Many on the left contend that the Founders were secular or Deist and that the First Amendment was designed to boldly separate church and state throughout the land. None of these claims are true, argues Beliefnet.com editor in chief Steven Waldman. With refreshing objectivity, Waldman narrates the real st...

Beginning in January 1692, Salem Village in colonial Massachusetts witnessed the largest and most lethal outbreak of witchcraft in early America. Villagers--mainly young women--suffered from unseen torments that caused them to writhe, shriek, and contort their bodies, complaining of pins stuck into their flesh and of being haunted by specters. Believing that they suffered from assaults by an invisible spirit, the community began a hunt to track down those responsible for the demonic work. ...

Carter Godwin Woodson's "The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861" meticulously details the oppressive educational landscape faced by African Americans before the American Civil War. Through a blend of historical analysis and narrative, Woodson elucidates the systemic barriers and societal attitudes that stunted educational opportunities for Black individuals. His scholarly approach is underscored by extensive primary sources, shedding light on the resilience of African American communitie...

The true story of a friendship between two very different men: Founding Father Ben Franklin and famed preacher of the Great Awakening George Whitefield.They were the most famous men in America. They came from separate countries, followed different philosophies, and led dissimilar lives. But they were fast friends. No two people did more to shape America in the mid-1700s.Benjamin Franklin was the American prototype: hard-working, inventive, practical, funny, w...