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. 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.

Mark David Hall serves as the Herbert Hoover Distinguished Professor of politics at George Fox University.

He received his PhD in political science from the University of Virginia and since then he's devoted

his career to the study of American political theory and, most importantly, the intersection of religion and politics.

He's the author or editor of at least 12 books and in addition to his teaching at George Fox University,

Professor Hall serves as an associated faculty member, the Center for the Study of

Law and Religion at Emory University.

Furthermore, he is a senior fellow at Baylor University's Institute for Studies in Religion.

His newest book is entitled,

Did America have a Christian founding?

And to that question, we will turn today.

Dr. Hall, thank you for joining me

for thinking in public.

Professor Hall, you ask a question in the title,

and that's a fairly, well, not uncommon,

but somewhat courageous thing to do in a book title,

because then you have to answer the question you asked. The question

did America have a Christian founding? You answer yes. That's correct.

...