Remembering Gordon Wood: Religion and the Republic

Arvind Kurian AbrahamGordon S. Wood, who tragically passed away, was arguably one of the greatest historians of the early American republic of his generation. His death leaves an enormous void, not merely in the academy, but in public life, at precisely the moment when Americans most need the kind of careful, nuanced, evidence-driven historical understanding that Wood devoted his life to providing. Nowhere is this loss felt more acutely than in the debate over religion and the founding of the American republic, a debate that continues to generate far more heat than light, and one that Wood illuminated with characteristic brilliance. Two competing claims dominate public debate about religion and the American founding. The first holds that the United States was founded as a Christian republic, citing the religious practices of early federal governments as evidence. The second insists the founding was essentially secular, resting its case on the writings of Jefferson and Madison. Gordon…