“In the Hands of a Good Providence”: Religion in the Life of George Washington Hardcover – October 9, 2008 by Mary V. Thompson

Description

Author: Thompson Mary V.

Brand: University of Virginia Press

Features:

• Used Book in Good Condition

Package Dimensions: 25x234x522

Number Of Pages: 272

Release Date: 09-10-2008

Details: Product Description
Attempts by evangelical Christians to claim Washington and other founders as their own, and scholars’ ongoing attempts to contradict these claims, are nothing new. Particularly after Washington was no longer around to refute them, legends of his Baptist baptism or secret conversion to Catholicism began to proliferate. Mount Vernon researcher Mary Thompson endeavors to get beyond the current preoccupation with whether Washington and other founders were or were not evangelical Christians to ask what place religion had in their lives. Thompson follows Washington and his family over several generations, situating her inquiry in the context of new work on the place of religion in colonial and postrevolutionary Virginia and the Chesapeake.
Thompson considers Washington’s active participation as a vestryman and church warden as well as a generous donor to his parish prior to the Revolution, and how his attendance declined after the war. He would attend special ceremonies, and stood as godparent to the children of family and friends, but he stopped taking communion and resigned his church office. Something had changed, but was it Washington, the church, or both? Thompson concludes that he was a devout Anglican, of a Latitudinarian bent, rather than either an evangelical Christian or a Deist. The meaning of this description, Thompson allows, when applied to eighteenth-century Virginia gentlemen, is far from self-evident, leaving ample room for speculation.
Review
“No one interested in Washington’s religion should overlook this well-written and well-researched monograph.” – Thomas Taylor, Wittenberg University –Church History, Volume 79, Number 4 (December 1, 2010), pp. 944

“…an excellent look at the place of religion in the life of this most reticent of men.” – Mary Coleman, Hartford Seminary –Reviews in Religion & Theology, Volume 17, Issue 2 (March 2010), pp. 158-159

“On the whole, Thompson handles her source material with commendable care….” – Edward G. Lengel, senior editor of the Papers of George Washington –Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 118, Number 1 (January 2010), pp. 72-74

“Both the general public and historians will find this to be an important book….” – Edward L. Bond, Alabama A&M University –The Journal of Southern History, Vol. LXXVI, No. 3 (August 2010), pp. 701-702

“…a thought-provoking book…lets its historical subjects speak for themselves….” – Whitney A. Martinko –The Virginia Quarterly Review, Vol. 85, No. 2 (April 2009)
Review
This useful monograph raises important questions and should prompt scholars to reexamine the role of religion in Washington’s personal life and public career.
Review
This is likely the best book that will ever be written on Washington and religion, and it may be as close as we will come to an understanding of Washington’s Christianity. (Frank E. GrizzardDirector of the Lee Family Digital Archive at Washington and Lee University and, author of
George! A Guide to All Things Washington)
Review
“This is likely the best book that will ever be written on Washington and religion, and it may be as close as we will come to an understanding of Washington’s Christianity. “―Frank E. GrizzardDirector of the Lee Family Digital Archive at Washington and Lee University and, author of George! A Guide to All Things Washington

“This useful monograph raises important questions and should prompt scholars to reexamine the role of religion in Washington’s personal life and public career. “―Paul K. Longmore, San Francisco State University, author of Journal of American History
Book Description
This is likely the best book that will ever be written on Washington and religion, and it may be as close as we will come to an understanding of Washington’s Christianity.
From the Back Cover
“The vexed topic of George Washington and religion has long cried out for an accomplished scholar