Faith of the Founders: Religion and the New Nation, 1776-1826

by Edwin S. Gaustad, Randall Balmer (Foreword by)

Overview

In the lauded Faith of the Founders, revered historian Edwin Gaustad provides a careful consideration of the developing relationship between religion and the state after the American Revolution. With concise focus on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and John Adams, Gaustad identifies seven varying—sometimes contrary—perspectives on religion that guided the nation's founders. Faith of the Founders masterfully shows how these figures possessed an intuitive understanding of religion that helped nourish a young country. Repackaged for a new generation of readers and with a new foreword by Randall Balmer, this brief but insightful book offers a look into the founding fathers' genius—and points to a way forward through the ideological boundaries that threaten to upend the daily doings of American government today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781932792096
Publisher:	Baylor University Press
Publication date:	09/01/2011
Edition description:	second edition
Pages:	180
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.53(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Edwin S. Gaustad is emeritus Professor of History, University of California, Riverside. He is a noted church historian and the author of over a dozen books.

Randall Balmer is John Phillips Professor in Religion and Chair of the Department of Religion at Dartmouth College. He is the author or editor of more than a dozen books.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgement

1. An Introduction

2. The Colonies and Their Churches

3. The Libertarians: Jefferson and Madison

4. The Icons: Franklin and Washington

5. The Philosophes: Adams and Jefferson

6. The Churches and the People

7. Epilogue

Appendix A. Major Documents Pertinent to Religion, 1785-1789

Appendix B. Selected State Declarations of Rights and Constitutions with Respect to Religion, 1776-1799

Notes

Bibliographical Note

Index

What People are Saying About This

Gaustad reminds us of the genius behind the founders' formulations regarding the relationship between church and state. Faith of the Founders is the best summary available of the social, political, and intellectual context that surrounded the crafting of our charter documents.

Randall Balmer

At a time when the First Amendment faces an almost daily assault from both the left and the right Edwin Gaustad reminds us of the genius behind the founders' formulations regarding the relationship between church and state. Faith of the Founders is the best summary available of the social, political, and intellectual context that surrounded the crafting of our charter documents.
—(Randall Balmer, author of Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism and one of the expert witnesses in the Alabama Ten Commandments case)

Editorial Reviews

Historically informative and as relevant as today's headlines. The author brings to these sensitive chapters all the wisdom and sophistication and that have marked him as a premier historian of the American religious experience.

Religious Studies Review - Henry W. Bowden

Based on James Sprunt lectures delivered at Union Theological Seminary (Richmond), this beautifully written book shows the complexity of church-state relations in the early republic.

Anglican and Episcopal History - Justus D. Doenecke

As clear and serene a guide to the mixture of religious and political events at the time of the nation's founding as we are likely to get.

Catholic Historical Review - Martin Marty

"Gaustad reminds us of the genius behind the founders' formulations regarding the relationship between church and state. Faith of the Founders is the best summary available of the social, political, and intellectual context that surrounded the crafting of our charter documents."

--Randall Balmer, author of The Making of Evangelicalism: From Revivalism to Politics and Beyond

From the Publisher

As clear and serene a guide to the mixture of religious and political events at the time of the nation’s founding as we are likely to get.
—(Martin Marty)

Catholic Historical Review

Historically informative and as relevant as today’s headlines. The author brings to these sensitive chapters all the wisdom and sophistication and that have marked him as a premier historian of the American religious experience.
—(Henry W. Bowden)

Religious Studies Review

Here [Gaustad] distills his learning into a book that, while little in size, is large in substance and value. Readers looking for a short sound course o the religious views of the nation’s founders will find it.
—(Michael McGiffert)

Georgia Historical Quarterly