Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look, and an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging

truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. This July is the 250th anniversary of the signing

of the Declaration of Independence, the event considered to be the birthday of America. Along with the

celebrations of what President Trump is calling our supercentennial,

will be resurfaced various arguments about whether the founding of the country was a product of Christianity or of Enlightenment deism. Among the best answers to this question is given by Michael Novak in his book On Two Wings.

The title itself is a way to summarize Novak's assertion,

that the American Eagle flies on both the

empirical tradition of John Locke and Christian faith. A good example of the role that evangelical

Christianity played in inspiring the American Revolution is the Great Awakening. The religious

revivals of the 1730s and 40s are most often associated with Jonathan Edwards and the New England Puritans.

However, the awakening reached throughout the American colonies, especially through the work of itinerant preachers, most notably George Whitfield, a man who was greatly admired by Benjamin Franklin.

The awakening emphasized the need for personal conversion, an idea that disrupted

existing churches by, among other things, calling into question the status of ministers who didn't

have the conversion experience. For example, Presbyterian minister Gilbert Tennant preached a sermon

called the dangers of an unconverted ministry, in which he argued that a regenerated plowman was better than an unconverted minister.

Tenant also argued that a pious, regenerate beggar, was better than an unholy, unregenerate prince.

In the hierarchical world of the 18th century, these ideas were revolutionary and helped shaped a mindset that inspired the founding

fathers. Most importantly, the awakening challenged existing authority structures in both the church

and the state. If a regenerate layman is superior to an unregenerate bishop, then the

ecclesiastical hierarchy is no guarantee of spiritual legitimacy. The same thinking was applied to the state.

A king who is unregenerant and who ruled unjustly is no better than a beggar, and no more legitimate than the illegitimate bishop.

These teachings on spiritual equality spilled over into ideals about social and political equality,

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