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More About This Textbook
Overview
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.
Editorial Reviews
Library Journal
In this primer on America's historical relationship to Christianity, Fea (history, Messiah Coll.; The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Philip Vickers Fithian and the Rural Enlightenment in Early America) shows that the facts are much more complex than the oversimplified sound bites that litter the present political debate. He covers the history of the idea of the United States as a Christian nation, whether the American Revolution was a Christian event, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and the religious beliefs of seven key founders. As the book goes on, it becomes clear that Fea has no intention of definitively answering the question posed in the title, which may frustrate readers already committed to one side or the other. Instead, the author lays out the relevant information with all of its ambiguity and invites readers to draw their own conclusions. VERDICT Although this book is primarily intended for a Christian audience, it is a useful text for anyone seeking a balanced historical overview of a thorny question.—Brian T. Sullivan, Alfred Univ. Lib., NYProduct Details
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Meet the Author
John Fea is Associate Professor of American History and Chair of the History Department at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania.