Thomas S. Kidd

Has Benjamin Franklin an authentic Christian who subscribed to any orthodox confession of faith? Responding to an inquiry about his faith from his friend Ezra Stiles, Congregational minister and president of Yale College, Franklin writes, I believe in one God, Creator of the universe. That he governs it by his Providence. That he ought to […]

In 1982, the Yale University historian of colonial America, Jon Butler, wrote a provocative article on the First Great Awakening and called the colonial revivals "an interpretive fiction." His subject was less the eighteenth century than the particular efforts of nineteenth-century American pastors to construct a narrative of awakenings led by Jonathan Edwards and George […]

The interest Christians have taken in Islam has a long and tortuous history, dating back as far as the seventh century. And the vast amount of literature generated over the centuries has, as literature does, given birth to a variety of images of the Muslim world. None of it has been particularly flattering. Rarely has […]

This book has two primary purposes: (1) to provide a thorough narrative describing the various revivals of religion in the American colonies between 1730 and 1800, and (2) to show that these revivals constitute the beginnings of evangelicalism in America. There is no question that the book accomplishes its first purpose superbly. Whether the book […]