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Benjamin Franklin

Audiobook
Nonfiction: Biography, Religion
Unabridged   10 hour(s)
Publication date: 05/23/2017

Benjamin Franklin

The Religious Life of a Founding Father

Available from major retailers or BUY FROM AMAZON
Audio CD ISBN:9781681686011
Digital Download ISBN:9781681686028

Summary

Renowned as a printer, scientist, and diplomat, Benjamin Franklin also published more works on religious topics than any other eighteenth-century American layperson. Based on rigorous research into Franklin's voluminous correspondence, essays, and almanacs, this fresh assessment of a well-known figure unpacks the contradictions and conundrums faith presented in Franklin’s life.

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Product Description

Renowned as a printer, scientist, and diplomat, Benjamin Franklin also published more works on religious topics than any other eighteenth-century American layperson. Born to Boston Puritans, by his teenage years Franklin had abandoned the exclusive Christian faith of his family and embraced deism. But Franklin, as a man of faith, was far more complex than the “thorough deist” who emerges in his autobiography. As Thomas Kidd reveals, deist writers influenced Franklin's beliefs, to be sure, but devout Christians in his life—including George Whitefield, the era's greatest evangelical preacher; his parents; and his beloved sister Jane—kept him tethered to the Calvinist creed of his Puritan upbringing. Based on rigorous research into Franklin’s voluminous correspondence, essays, and almanacs, this fresh assessment of a well-known figure unpacks the contradictions and conundrums faith presented in Franklin's life.

Reviews/Praise

"Consider this lucid, economical, nonacademic work of scholarship a new cornerstone of Franklin studies." —Booklist Starred Review

"A highly accessible study of an enigmatic yet influential faith life."—Kirkus Reviews Starred Review

"Based on rigorous research into Franklin’s voluminous correspondence, essays and almanacs, this fresh assessment of a well-known figure unpacks the contradictions and conundrums faith presented in Franklin’s life."—The Times Record

Author Bio

Thomas S. Kidd teaches history at Baylor University. He regularly contributes for outlets such as WORLD Magazine, the Washington Post, and USA Today. His recent books include George Whitefield: America's Spiritual Founding Father; and Baptists in America: A History, with co-author Barry Hankins.