Mohler: You know, I have to begin with one of the biggest questions in terms of American religious history, but perhaps even American history. Professor Kidd, welcome to Thinking in Public. He is the author of several very well received and respected academic works in American History, starting with The Protestant Interest: New England after Puritanism published in 2004 by Yale University Press, and his most recent work, Patrick Henry: First Among Patriots, published in just recent days by Basic Books. Kidd is Associate Professor of History at Baylor University where he also serves as senior fellow of The Institute for Studies of Religion. I’m looking forward to this conversation with Thomas Kidd. It’s also no accident that we have so many conversations with historians because they are often those who in the academy are dealing with the most interesting ideas, not only in retrospect, but in terms of the contemporary meaning of these things. Mohler: It is no accident that so much about intellectual activity is invested in thinking about history. Host, and President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Theological and cultural issues with the people who are shaping them. ![]() This is “Thinking in Public”, a program dedicated to intelligent conversation about front line I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review. Publisher: B&H Academic (December 1, 2019)ĭisclosure: I received this book free from B&H Academic. ![]() This is an excellent history book, one that I wish I would have had in college. Each chapter ends with a “selected biography” of a few resources for further reading. The book has many pictures, illustrations, and maps. I am amazed at the breadth of information and detail Kidd knows and can relay. As you will read you will see example after example of how the historical events that shaped our country didn’t happen in a vacuum. Kidd is adept at weaving narratives together, showing why certain events worked or didn’t work due to other historical factors. He doesn’t try to make people seem “Christian.” He writes what people did, and if what they did was lousy, a lie, or horrendous, it will show. Kidd shows the messiness of history with its ups and downs and tangential characters. He doesn’t look only at the big events and heroes of the past, but at minor characters who many either forget about or never hear about: Native Americans, minorities, women, slaves, and small religious groups. There have been brutal battles, sometimes in the name of God, that we’re horrendous and uncalled for. Faith played a pivotal role for many-though not all-of the Europeans who initially traveled here and throughout the growth of the nation. I enjoyed Kidd’s emphasis on the role of faith. Kids ends by writing, “I hope that readers will grow in their appreciation for the role played in the American past and discern the ways in which America has been (or has not been) a congenial place for people of faith to flourish” (2). It reveals to us the courage of our past heroes-great and small-to inspire us “to honor their legacies” (2). It not only tells us how we got to where we are today, but it reminds us of the sins in our past so that we will hopefully not repeat them again.
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