Episode 214: Christopher Grasso, Skepticism & American Faith

by Emily SneffNovember 27, 2018

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Was the early United States a “Christian nation?” Did most of its citizenry accept God and the Bible as the moral authority that bound them together as one nation?

Scholars have taken a binary stance on these questions. Some argue that early America was a thoroughly religious place and that even those who didn’t attend church were on the same basic page as those who did. While others argue early America boasted an increasingly secularized society.

Christopher Grasso, a professor of history at William & Mary and the author of Skepticism and American Faith: From the Revolution to the Civil War, challenges and complicates these two ideas by offering a third explanation: the religious landscape of early America was a continuum where many people experienced both faith and doubt over the course of their lives.

About the Show

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.

Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.

Episode Summary

Christopher Grasso, a professor of history at William & Mary and the author of Skepticism and American Faith: From the Revolution to the Civil War, challenges and complicates traditional ideas about the early American religious landscape by offering the idea that religion and doubt operated along a continuum.

As we explore this idea, Chris reveals what early Americans meant by faith and skepticism; The role of religion and skepticism in early American life; And, why we need to study both skepticism and faith when we explore the religious history of early America.

What You’ll Discover

What early Americans meant by faith and skepticism
The role of religion in early American life
The role of skepticism in early American life
Historical sources used to investigate faith and skepticism
Ethan Allen & Reason, the Only Oracle of Man
William Beadle murders
Response to Ethan Allen and his treatise
How believers treated non believers in early American society
Where non-Protestant believers fit into the debate between Christians and skeptics
The rise of Methodism in early America
The democratizing power of faith in early America revisited
The Second Great Awakening and the role women played in its revivalism
African Americans and the debate between skepticism and faith
How sectionalism impacted the debates between skeptics and believers
Why it’s important to study both skepticism and faith in early America

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Time Warp Question

In your opinion, what might have happened to the role and place of skepticism in the early United States if the Enlightenment had not taken place during the 18th century? Without the Enlightenment what does the religious history of early America look like?