What was the state of Benjamin Franklin's soul? Thomas S. Kidd attempts to address this question.
Franklin was the most performative of the Founders, so the Baylor University historian has his work cut out for him. A title such as Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father could suggest a famous skeptic turning out to be a more fervent believer than we thought. That isn't really Kidd's bottom line, though. This round-up of everything the great journalist, politician, benefactor, diplomat, constitutional delegate, scientist, and inventor ever said about the Almighty leaves us with as complicated and elusive a Franklin as we had before. But it does put into sharp relief that this man of affairs, the pragmatist par excellence, paid constant attention to the spiritual and moral aspects of life.
As discussed previously in this space, being a practical idealist may seem paradoxical but it is uniquely American. One of the earliest, most striking, and most important examples of the combination is Benjamin Franklin—which explains how he could be styled “the first American” in H.W. Brands's bestselling biography of a few years ago. Franklin was fascinated throughout his life with “applied Christianity,” to use Kidd's phrase. The best Christian, by Franklin's lights, was one who found ways to do good for others.
Read Full Article »