400-408 – Gregg Frazer, Professor of History and Political Studies, at the Master's College, a classmate of mine in the PhD program at Claremont Graduate University, and author of the just-out The Religious Beliefs of America's Founders: Reason, Revelation, Revolution (Amazon), based upon his dissertation. Gregg and his wife, Leanne, have three daughters, are members of Grace Community Church, and he enjoys listening to jazz.
• Today we talk about his new book. Gregg argues that both the political left and political right are wrong when it comes to America's founders – they were neither the deists of the left (Barry Lynn), nor the Christians of the right (David Barton & Peter Marshall). They were what he calls "theistic rationalists," a hybrid belief system of natural religion, Protestantism, and reason – with reason the decisive element. He bases this upon their private writings.
FROM THE AMAZON DESCRIPTION – Frazer explains how this theological middle ground developed, what its core beliefs were, and how they were reflected in the thought of eight Founders: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington. He argues convincingly that Congregationalist Adams is the clearest example of theistic rationalism; that presumed deists Jefferson and Franklin are less secular than supposed; and that even the famously taciturn Washington adheres to this theology. He also shows that the Founders held genuinely religious beliefs that aligned with morality, republican government, natural rights, science, and progress.
Frazer's careful explication helps readers better understand the case for revolutionary recruitment, the religious references in the Declaration of Independence, and the religious elements—and lack thereof—in the Constitution. He also reveals how influential clergymen, backing their theology of theistic rationalism with reinterpreted Scripture, preached and published liberal democratic theory to justify rebellion.
Deftly blending history, religion, and political thought, Frazer succeeds in showing that the American experiment was neither a wholly secular venture nor an attempt to create a Christian nation founded on biblical principles. By showcasing the actual approach taken by these key Founders, he suggests a viable solution to the twenty-first-century standoff over the relationship between church and state—and challenges partisans on both sides to articulate their visions for America on their own merits without holding the Founders hostage to positions they never held.
REVIEWS –
• Sophisticated, well-documented, and forcefully argued. Extreme partisans who champion 'Christian America' or complete secularism will not like this book, but all other readers should come away much better informed about the past and also much better situated to adjudicate religious-political debates today. -- Mark Noll, author of God and Race in American Politics: A Short History.
• Slices through prevailing understandings of the founders' religious beliefs by showing that they are neither what contemporary secularists nor what contemporary Christians often wish they were. -- Russell Muirhead, author of Just Work.
• Lucidly written and suffused with great honesty. -- Thomas L. Pangle, author of Political Philosophy and the God of Abraham.
413-423 – Gregg Frazer, Why does it matter what they believed? So these eight founders would fail not only our contemporary theological test for Christianity, but any of the denominational doctrinal tests of the 18th century? Trinity, deity of Christ, Virgin birth, bodily resurrection, inerrancy, original sin, hell, etc.) (See p.19 for the 10 basics of the faith, of which, these eight founders reject 9 of the 10, accepting only "God is active in human affairs," separating them from deism.)
428-438 – Gregg Frazer, But they did support religion didn't they?
LINER – Join me this Friday at the Rose Bowl for the Kare Youth League Carnival and Circus! A great time for the whole family but especially for the kids! Play the great carnival games and watch circus acts from around the world! It's a Christian event so it's safe for the whole family! The Carnival is Friday from 5pm-10pm and Saturday 10am-930pm. The Circus Shows are Friday 530pm and 830pm, and four shows on Saturday 1130am, 130pm, 430pm, and 700pm. Get more info at kkla.com.
443-452 – Gregg Frazer, What percentage of the people were actually Christian? And what about the Black Regiment of patriot-preachers? And the four references to God in the Declaration?
458-508 – Anthony Bradley (dranthonybradley.com) Associate Professor of Theology and Ethics at The King's College in New York (tkc.edu), research fellow at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty (acton.org), former assistant professor of systematic theology and ethics at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, where he also directed the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute. He holds a B.S. in biological sciences from Clemson, an M.Div. from Covenant, and a Ph.D. from Westminster – where his dissertation was on the intersection of black liberation theology and economics. He studies and writes on issues of race in America, hip hop, youth culture, issues among African Americans, the American family, welfare, education, and modern international forms of social injustice, slavery, and oppression.
His books are – Liberating Black Theology: The Bible and the Black Experience in America (2010) (Amazon), Black and Tired: Essays on Race, Politics, Culture, and International Development (2011) (Amazon), Keep Your Head Up: America's New Black Christian Leaders, Social Consciousness, and the Cosby Conversation (2012) (Amazon), and The Political Economy of Liberation (Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Studies in Religion, Culture, and Social Development) (2012) (Amazon).
512-523 – Anthony Bradley. Why do you say Bill Cosby didn't go deep enough?
528-539 – Anthony Bradley. Is there a progressive strategy for a permanent underclass? Obama did not mature through the traditional black caucus route, he's a progressive outsider taking the black vote for granted.
544-554 – Anthony Bradley. What do you say to your single moms at your church in Harlem?
LINER – Join me this Friday at the Rose Bowl for the Kare Youth League Carnival and Circus! A great time for the whole family but especially for the kids! Play the great carnival games and watch circus acts from around the world! It's a Christian event so it's safe for the whole family! The Carnival is Friday from 5pm-10pm and Saturday 10am-930pm. The Circus Shows are Friday 530pm and 830pm, and four shows on Saturday 1130am, 130pm, 430pm, and 700pm. Get more info at kkla.com.
558-608 – Dr. Michael Brown, a fascinatingly eclectic individual – with a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literature from NYU, he's currently an Adjunct Professor in Messianic Jewish Studies at Denver Theological Seminary, but he's taught at some of the best seminaries in America (Denver, Southern Evangelical, Gordon Conwell, King's, Trinity, Regent, and even Fuller). He's not only a Jewish convert, and "the Messianic Jew the Orthodox love to hate," author of five volumes of Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, and What Do Jewish People Think about Jesus? He became a believer in Jesus 1971 as a sixteen year-old, heroin-shooting, LSD-using Jewish rock drummer! He was also involved with the "Holy Weeping" Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, as a professor of practical theology. He's been on over 100 international ministry trips, witnessing many power encounters with demoniacs. And, as though that weren't enough, he's an expert on homosexuality, having written A Queer Thing Happened to America, and he's the host of the nationally-syndicated radio show Line of Fire (askdrbrown.org).
• His new book is a response to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach's book Kosher Jesus (2012) (Amazon) which argues that Jews should reclaim Jesus while rejecting the Christianity invented by Paul in the New Testament. Michael's book is entitled The Real Kosher Jesus: Revealing the Mysteries of the Hidden Messiah (2012) (Amazon).
612-623 – Michael Brown
628-639 – Michael Brown
644-656 – Michael Brown
LINER – Join me this Friday at the Rose Bowl for the Kare Youth League Carnival and Circus! A great time for the whole family but especially for the kids! Play the great carnival games and watch circus acts from around the world! It's a Christian event so it's safe for the whole family! The Carnival is Friday from 5pm-10pm and Saturday 10am-930pm. The Circus Shows are Friday 530pm and 830pm, and four shows on Saturday 1130am, 130pm, 430pm, and 700pm. Get more info at kkla.com.
