Nature's God

The Heretical Origins of the American Republic

By: Matthew Stewart

Narrated by: Michael Quinlan

Where did the ideas come from that became the cornerstone of American democracy? Not only the erudite Thomas Jefferson, the wily and elusive Ben Franklin, and the underappreciated Thomas Paine, but also Ethan Allen, the hero of the Green Mountain Boys, and Thomas Young, the forgotten Founder who kicked off the Boston Tea Party. These radicals who founded America set their sights on a revolution of the mind. Derided as "infidels" and "atheists" in their own time, they wanted to liberate us not just from one king but from the tyranny of supernatural religion.

The ideas that inspired them were neither British nor Christian but largely ancient, pagan, and continental: the fecund universe of the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius, and the potent (but nontranscendent) natural divinity of the Dutch heretic Benedict de Spinoza.

Drawing deeply on his study of European philosophy, Matthew Stewart pursues a genealogy of the philosophical ideas from which America's revolutionaries drew their inspiration, all scrupulously researched and documented and enlivened with storytelling of the highest order. Along the way, he uncovers the true meanings of "Nature's God", "self-evident", and many other phrases crucial to our understanding of the American experiment but now widely misunderstood. Stewart's lucid and passionate investigation surprises, challenges, enlightens, and entertains at every turn, as it spins a true tale and a persuasive, exhilarating argument about the founding principles of American government and the sources of our success in science, medicine, and the arts.

©2014 Matthew Stewart (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Very Interesting Thoughts

I enjoyed this book tremendously. I feel like I think similarly to what is being provided here. Definitely shows how history is a story that continues to be written. Only issue I had was that I had a hard time keeping up, as my thoughts would wonder as the book would continue on. Key take away: let people be themselves. We do not have the right to expect everyone to fit one mold.

Excellent exploration of this subject

Stewart has written an excellent exploration of the philosophical groundwork that informed the religious and political thinking of the men who wrote the Declaration and the Constitution. He takes the unusual approach of weaving his story around the lives and deeds of Ethan Allen and Thomas Young (a fomenter of the Boston Tea Party and a mobile gadfly during the years leading up to the war).

The work is challenging but rewarding, as Stewart explicates the elements of texts by Lucretius, Bruno, Descartes, Spinoza, Hobbes, and Locke. He then shows how these ideas permeated the thinking, writing and activities of Allen and Young in particular, but also many other leading figures of the Revolution. This is a refutation of the idea that the founding fathers intended the country to be a Christian land, a refutation that is grounded in fact, not assertion.

Absolutely enlightening

Stewart is a thoughtful intelligent and exciting writer. This is a funny, cleverly written, philosophical rumination on the ideas of our founders. More accurate and timely than others.

A fresh and unsanitized look at the Founders.

A must-read for anyone interested in the ideological and theological foundations of America's Founding Fathers.

Interesting

Some of the chapters were long and disjointed, but otherwise this was an excellent study on a subject that mainstream Christian Americans either ignore or are ignorant of. Very interesting.