Showing results by author "Thomas Kidd" in All Categories

Thomas Jefferson was arguably the most brilliant and inspiring political writer in American history. But the ethical realities of his personal life and political career did not live up to his soaring rhetoric. Indeed, three tensions defined Jefferson’s moral life: democracy versus slavery, republican virtue versus dissolute consumption, and veneration for Jesus versus skepticism about Christianity. In this book, Thomas S. Kidd tells the story of Jefferson’s ethical life through the lens of these tensions.

American History, Volume 1 surveys the broad sweep of American history from the first Native American societies to the end of the Reconstruction period, following the Civil War. Drawing on a deep range of research and years of classroom teaching experience, Thomas S. Kidd offers students an engaging overview of the first half of American history. The volume features illuminating stories of people from well known presidents and generals, to lesser-known men and women who struggled under slavery and other forms of oppression to make their place in American life.

John Charles Ryle (1816-1900), a lover of Puritan theology, was one of the most popular evangelical orators and lively tract writers. Known for his direct and punchy style, Ryle expressed gospel truths with clarity and vivacity, leaving a legacy that continues to shape Christians today.

George Whitefield's bold "born-again" theology and passionate sermons established him as a key figure during the 18th century. Many Christians are familiar with evangelists of this time including Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley, but Whitefield, arguably the most significant member of the trio, often goes unnoticed in the church today. After experiencing a profound encounter with Jesus during his time at Oxford, Whitefield dedicated his life to teaching the Scriptures to others and calling people to experience the joy of knowing and loving God.

Francis Grimké's life left a significant mark on American Christianity at the turn of the 20th century. Born enslaved in South Carolina, Grimké dedicated his life to teaching and preaching the gospel and confronting the racism and injustice of his time. For 50 years, he served as a Presbyterian pastor in Washington, DC, emerging as a prominent leader in the early civil rights movement. This audiobook explores Grimké's vision of the Christian life, emphasizing his beliefs on personal piety, family, the mission of the church, and the relationship between faith and politics.

The Zondervan Biblical and Theological Lectures series provides a unique audio learning experience. Unlike a traditional audiobook's direct narration of a book's text, America’s Religious History: Audio Lectures includes high quality live-recordings of college-level lectures that cover the...

Renowned as a printer, scientist, and diplomat, Benjamin Franklin also published more works on religious topics than any other 18th-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.

In this illuminating audiobook, Thomas Kidd draws on his expertise in American religious history to retrace the arc of this spiritual movement, illustrating just how historically peculiar that political and ethnic definition (white Republican) of evangelicals is. He examines distortions in the public understanding of evangelicals and shows how a group of “Republican insider evangelicals” aided the politicization of the movement. This book will be a must-listen for those trying to better understand the shifting religious and political landscape of America today.

In Baptists in America, Thomas S. Kidd and Barry Hankins explore the long-running tensions between church, state, and culture that Baptists have shaped and navigated. Despite the moment of unity that their early persecution provided, their history has been marked by internal battles and schisms that were microcosms of national events, from the conflict over slavery that divided North from South to the conservative revolution of the 1970s and '80s.

Before the Revolutionary War, America was a nation divided by different faiths. But when the war for independence sparked in 1776, colonists united under the banner of religious freedom. Evangelical frontiersmen and Deist intellectuals set aside their differences to defend a belief they shared, the right to worship freely. Inspiring an unlikely but powerful alliance, it was the idea of religious liberty that brought the colonists together in the battle against British tyranny.

American History, Volume 2 gives a wide overview of America’s history from the end of the Civil War era, to the political and cultural struggles of contemporary times. Thomas S. Kidd employs lessons learned from his own scholarly expertise and history classes to weave together a compelling narrative of the defeats and triumphs that have defined the American national experience.

In the post-9/11 world, it is not difficult to see how important religion remains in America and around the globe. An older generation of scholars expected that America and the rest of the Western world was headed inexorably toward secularization and the end of religion. America is undoubtedly...