This is thinking in public, a program dedicated to intelligent conversation about

front-line theological and cultural issues with the people who are shaping them.

I'm Albert Moller, your host and president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville,

Kentucky.

Many things look different depending on which side of the Atlantic one is looking from.

And that is especially true when it comes to religion in America and in ways many might find

unexpected.

Our guest today is Thomas Albert Howard, the Stephen's Phyllis Professor of History at Gordon College,

where he also directs the Jerusalem in Athens Forum and the Center for Christian Studies.

He holds the PhD in European Intellectual History from the University of

in European Intellectual History from the University of Virginia. He's also studied and or taught at

universities including Falparaiso University, the University of Freiburg in Germany,

and the Humbulk University of Berlin, the University of Bozle and the University of Notre Dame.

Professor Howard, welcome to Thinking in Public.

Well, it's good to be here.

Thinking about the field of European intellectual history for most Americans is probably fairly easy,

at least in terms of conceiving what the discipline is all about.

But your particular specialization is looking at Transatlantic studies.

Talk to us about that.

Modern history really begins with the French Revolution in Europe and of course a major revolution

happens here after 1776. And I've just been interested in some of the interplay and

ideas of intellectuals and ideas that have had a purchase on the imagination on

...