Was America Founded As a Christian Nation? Revised Edition : A Historical Introduction.

Intro -- Endorsements -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface to the Revised Edition -- Preface to the First Edition -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: How to Think Historically -- The Search for a Usable Past -- What Do Historians Do? -- Part One: The United States Is a Christian Nation: The History of an Idea -- Chapter 1: Evangelical America, 1789-1865 -- Christian Nationalism in the Early Republic -- The Election of 1800 -- Whig Christian Nationalism -- A Christian Nation in Print -- Christian Nationalism in the Civil War North -- Christian Nationalism and the Confederate States of America -- Chapter 2: Evangelicals, Liberals, and Christian America, 1865-1925 -- A Christian Amendment to the Constitution -- An Evangelical Alliance: 1873 -- Fundamentalism and Christian Civilization -- Liberal Protestantism and Christian America -- The Supreme Court and the Church of the Holy Trinity Case -- Chapter 3: Christian America in a Modern Age, 1925-1980 -- The Persistence of the Evangelical Pursuit of a Christian Nation -- Mainline Protestantism and Christian America -- Catholic Resurgence -- The Revival of Christian America: The 1950s -- Martin Luther King Jr.'s Vision for a Christian Nation -- The Religious Right and Christian Nationalism -- Chapter 4: History for the Faithful: The Contemporary Defenders of Christian America -- Providence -- Christian Whig History -- The Founders and Christian Belief -- Religion and the Constitution -- Revisionism -- Suggested Reading for Part One -- Part Two: Was the American Revolution a Christian Event? -- Chapter 5: Were the British Colonies Christian Societies? -- "Planting" versus "Founding" -- Jamestown -- Massachusetts Bay -- Chapter 6: Christianity and the Coming of the American Revolution -- A Snapshot of the British-American Colonies in 1763.

The Stamp Act Crisis-1765 -- The Townshend Duties -- The Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party -- The Coercive Acts -- The First Continental Congress -- Chapter 7: The Revolutionary Pulpit -- Whig Sermons -- A Biblical Argument for Revolution -- Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 -- The Revolution as a "Just War" -- Chapter 8: Nature's God: Is the Declaration of Independence a Christian Document? -- Religion and the Continental Congress -- The Declaration of Independence and "Original Intent" -- God and the Declaration of Independence -- Chapter 9: Religion in the Critical Period -- Religion and the Articles of Confederation -- Virginia and the Quest for Religious Liberty -- Massachusetts and Religious Establishment -- Other States -- Chapter 10: A "Godless Constitution"? -- The "Need" for a Constitution -- Religion and the Constitution -- Slavery and the Constitution -- The Federalist -- God and the Ratification Debate -- Religion and the States: The "Federalist" Interpretation of the Constitution -- Religion and the First Amendment -- A Wall of Separation between Church and State? -- Suggested Reading for Part Two -- Part Three: The Religious Beliefs of the Founders -- Chapter 11: Did George Washington Pray at Valley Forge? -- Providence -- Church Involvement -- Washington's Beliefs -- Washington's Faith in Practice -- Communion -- Morality, Ethics, and Public Religion -- Religious Freedom -- Chapter 12: John Adams: Devout Unitarian -- Adams and Christian Orthodoxy -- Clergy, Catholics, and Calvinists -- Religion, America, and the Public Good -- Chapter 13: Thomas Jefferson: Follower of Jesus -- The Intelligent Creator -- Follower of Jesus -- Jefferson and His Bibles -- Religious Freedom -- The Dilemma of Slavery -- Chapter 14: Benjamin Franklin: Ambitious Moralist -- A Puritan Childhood -- Was Franklin a Deist? -- A Religion of Virtue -- Franklin's Failures.

The Religion of the American Dream -- Chapter 15: What about Witherspoon?: Three Orthodox Founders -- John Witherspoon: Presbyterian Patriot -- John Jay: Christian Providentialist -- Samuel Adams: Puritan Republican -- Suggested Reading for Part Three -- Conclusion -- Epilogue to the Revised Edition -- Notes -- Index -- Excerpt from A Political History of the Bible in America, by Paul D. Hanson.

John Fea offers a thoroughly researched, evenhanded 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. This.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.