Think americas most common code of spirituality. And for franklin when you go back to the 18th century, doctrineless moralized christianity was serious intellectual business. It was very serious. Born out of contemporary religious debates and dissatisfaction with his familys puritanism, like many skeptics in the 18th century, franklin was weary of 300 years of fighting over the legacy of the ref reformation. Franklin grew up in a world of intractable conflict between catholics and protestants. But also within and between protestant denominations themselves. What good was christianity, he wondered, if it precipitated pettiness, persecution and violence. Unlike some selfhelp celebrities today, franklin and his cohort of european and american deists reckoned in promoting a ethicsfocused christianity, they were redeeming christianity itself. How successful that redemptive effort was, you all are going to have to decide for yourselves. Could you really have a nonexclusive doctrinely minimal
Peter and paul still say that the king is the minister to all, the minister of god, a revenger on those who do evil. So the message some of these loyalists said was, obey all rulers, even the bad ones. Respect authority because god put them in authority for a reason. So what you call patriotism is really just ambition. Its selfishness in disguise. And all patriotic revolts do is create more violence. Now what about the patriotic argument . What are the patriots going to do with texts like fear god and honor the king . What are the patriots going to do with texts that say that the Civil Authority are the revengers of god on wrongdoers, obey them just as if youre obeying god . What can you do with that . Is there anywhere you can go with that . Well, of course. Lets see. Jonathan mayhew, long before the revolution, concerning unlimited submission. That title is really helpful. And people like john adams cousins use this text and many, many others. And lets thing about their argument. The
Respect authority because god put them in authority for a reason. So what you call patriotism is really just ambition. Its selfishness in disguise. And all patriotic revolts do is create more violence. Now what about the patriotic argument . What are the patriots going to do with texts like fear god and honor the king . What are the patriots going to do with texts that say that the Civil Authority are the revengers of god on wrongdoers, obey them just as if youre obeying god . What can you do with that . Is there anywhere you can go with that . Well, of course. Lets see. Jonathan mayhew, long before the revolution, concerning unlimited submission. That title is really helpful. And people like john adams cousins use this text and many, many others. And lets thing about their argument. They say, look again at the historical context. Peter and paul, what they were really doing was making general statements about respecting authority. Submission didnt mean unlimited submission to any king
Discipline, denerve lebe nerve success in this live. Thats what good wants for us. Well, today its easy to dismiss this sort of pot faith because its so often peddled by wealthy media superstars, but it is i think americas most common code of spirituality. And for franklin when you go back to the 18th century, doctrineless moralized christianity was serious intellectual business. It was very serious. Born out of contemporary religious debates and dissatisfaction with his familys puritanism, like many skeptics in the 18th century, franklin was weary of 300 years of fighting over the legacy of the ref reformation. Franklin grew up in a world of intractable conflict between catholics and protestants. But also within and between protestant denominations themselves. What good was christianity, he wondered, if it precipitated pettiness, persecution and violence. Unlike some selfhelp celebrities today, franklin and his cohort of european and american deists reckoned in promoting a ethicsfocus
Thank you, danielle. Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you enjoyed your time at lunch and in the museum. If you will please take a moment to silence your cell phone or any other device that you might have with you. Please join me in giving our speak areas round of applause, theyve done an outstanding job. Today has really been an interesting look at how the bible influenced the people and events of the American Revolution and our nations founding. Im going to thank you to those that have submitted questions. Im going to randomly go through these. For our speakers. Well start with are dr. Kidd. Franklin quoted god helps those who help themselves, and can you put that into context in your remarks of franklins belief . Well, that is an example of franklin, that Poor Richards almanac was full of aphorisms that sounded like proverbs and sometimes they were proverbs. And i think that that type of philosophy, of god helps those who help themselves, is an excellent example of this type of empha