Part of me wants to republish here the Conclusion to this fine book rather than write an original review; so I have taken the liberty to reproduce here on my website the complete text of that final chapter from John Fea’s book “In God We Trust.” Feel free to skip my brief review below and read his much better conclusion.
That being said, let me introduce you to John Fea, first class historian who has recently concluded a first class career as a professor at Messiah University in central Pennsylvania, a school historically attached to the Brethren in Christ churches; now it is situated broadly in the Evangelical world of higher education but with decided influences from the Anabaptist, Pietist and Wesleyan traditions. He now serves as Senior Fellow in History at the Lumen Center for the Study of Christianity and culture in Madison, Wisconsin.
I am glad to report that more than once Dr. Fea has been my guest in The Meetinghouse and this is not the first of his books that I have reviewed.
Fea opens chapter 10 with this summary statement: “The people of early America, including the founding fathers, read the Bible, were inspired by its teachings, and quoted its verses to make a case for the American Revolution” (121). This is as close to a universally embraced statement as a historically-minded person might find. It does not tell us everything about our people 250 years ago, and it does not answer all of the questions people put to that historical record today. But it is a true statement and helpful in every regard.
Fea adds chapters on specific individuals, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and (most helpful to me) John Witherspoon, John Jay, and Samuel Miller. The religious culture for all of this spanned the entire range of what we now call Protestant or Evangelical thought; there is very little Roman Catholic or Jewish influence and certainly none from the Muslim religion. He does, however, write frankly about the influence of the Enlightenment, or what we call today secular or critical thought. He demonstrates that these founding fathers and their ministers represented the full range of confessional and critical thought common to our own Christian environment today.
Thanks be to God that Fea also responds to the network of Evangelical apologists who have cobbled together a way of reading our history that supports a very different outcome. Among these apologists are Peter Marshall and David Barton (59), Jack Hibbs writing about the Black Robe Regiment (73ff), Greg Laurie and the Pine Tree Flag (97ff), Eric Metaxas (104ff), and especially Neil Howe and his provocative book The Fourth Turning Is Here (106ff). These writers and speakers use selected materials from the founding period to propose what we now call Christian Nationalism, the notion that the United States was intended, from the beginning, to be a distinctly Christian nation with confessing Christians as elected leaders, Christian documents as guiding literature, and Christian institutions and practices as necessary for the flourishing of the nation.
Fea writes as an historian rather than an apologist or polemicist. He is advocating and demonstrating the careful reading and measured assessment of a person committed to the task of history as practiced widely in the modern world. His book is richly referenced and reading through the endnotes is an education itself. The tone of the book is respectful and calm and clearly not oriented toward any political end. Fea is a scholar in the best sense of the word, which means this book is worthy of your attention and promotion. Feel free to hand it to any curious minister or thoughtful lay person. The 131 pages of text make it useful for group study, at home or church.
Part of me wants to republish here the Conclusion to this fine book rather than write an original review; so I have taken the liberty to reproduce here on my website the complete text of that final chapter from John Fea’s book “In God We Trust.” Feel free to skip my brief review below and read his much better conclusion.
That being said, let me introduce you to John Fea, first class historian who has recently concluded a first class career as a professor at Messiah University in central Pennsylvania, a school historically attached to the Brethren in Christ churches; now it is situated broadly in the Evangelical world of higher education but with decided influences from the Anabaptist, Pietist and Wesleyan traditions. He now serves as Senior Fellow in History at the Lumen Center for the Study of Christianity and culture in Madison, Wisconsin.
I am glad to report that more than once Dr. Fea has been my guest in The Meetinghouse and this is not the first of his books that I have reviewed.
Fea opens chapter 10 with this summary statement: “The people of early America, including the founding fathers, read the Bible, were inspired by its teachings, and quoted its verses to make a case for the American Revolution” (121). This is as close to a universally embraced statement as a historically-minded person might find. It does not tell us everything about our people 250 years ago, and it does not answer all of the questions people put to that historical record today. But it is a true statement and helpful in every regard.
Fea adds chapters on specific individuals, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and (most helpful to me) John Witherspoon, John Jay, and Samuel Miller. The religious culture for all of this spanned the entire range of what we now call Protestant or Evangelical thought; there is very little Roman Catholic or Jewish influence and certainly none from the Muslim religion. He does, however, write frankly about the influence of the Enlightenment, or what we call today secular or critical thought. He demonstrates that these founding fathers and their ministers represented the full range of confessional and critical thought common to our own Christian environment today.
Thanks be to God that Fea also responds to the network of Evangelical apologists who have cobbled together a way of reading our history that supports a very different outcome. Among these apologists are Peter Marshall and David Barton (59), Jack Hibbs writing about the Black Robe Regiment (73ff), Greg Laurie and the Pine Tree Flag (97ff), Eric Metaxas (104ff), and especially Neil Howe and his provocative book The Fourth Turning Is Here (106ff). These writers and speakers use selected materials from the founding period to propose what we now call Christian Nationalism, the notion that the United States was intended, from the beginning, to be a distinctly Christian nation with confessing Christians as elected leaders, Christian documents as guiding literature, and Christian institutions and practices as necessary for the flourishing of the nation.
Fea writes as an historian rather than an apologist or polemicist. He is advocating and demonstrating the careful reading and measured assessment of a person committed to the task of history as practiced widely in the modern world. His book is richly referenced and reading through the endnotes is an education itself. The tone of the book is respectful and calm and clearly not oriented toward any political end. Fea is a scholar in the best sense of the word, which means this book is worthy of your attention and promotion. Feel free to hand it to any curious minister or thoughtful lay person. The 131 pages of text make it useful for group study, at home or church.
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