by Gregg L. Frazer (Get the Book)The debate over the religious beliefs of the founders of the American Republic continues to rage between the deist camp and Christian evangelicals, as characterized by David Barton's recently discredited The Jefferson Lies (2012). Making a claim for a via media between deism and orthodox Christianity, Frazer (Master's College, Santa Clarita, California) here proposes a distinctly new category he refers to as "theistic rationalism." "Theistic rationalists" drew upon theologians such as Unitarian Joseph Priestley and Anglican divine Samuel Clarke, for whom the acceptable doctrines of Christianity served the purpose of giving a due regard for God and his creation and facilitated the system of rewards and punishments that bound man in the transcendent realm while heightening his moral sense and benevolence toward his fellow man. Frazer argues that the key founders valued religion not for any truths delivered by divine revelation or as a means to salvation but because of its "laudable effects," which included providing a foundation for public morality. In summary, Frazer has skillfully marshaled a considerable amount of evidence in support of his new category of revolutionary-era religious belief and added more fuel to an already intense discourse. --Choice
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