Against the religious backdrop of pre- and postcolonial America stands
the towering figure--and mind--of Benjamin Franklin. A Renaissance man
in a Revolutionary time, Franklin had interests and knowledge not only
in religion but in literature, philosophy, politics, publishing, history,
and scientific inquiry, among many other disciplines.
Kerry S. Walters examines Franklin's search for the Divine using a similar,
multifaceted approach--and in so doing has created the first extended
treatment of Franklin's religious thought in thirty years. Walters brings
the same intellectual range and depth to the understanding of Franklin's
beliefs that Franklin brought to his own quest. What emerges from this
pilgrimage into the soul of one of America's greatest figures is a very
human Benjamin Franklin who grew with the accumulation of knowledge to
arrive at a "theistic perspectivism," which provided him with
a philosophical explanation for the diversity of religious faiths--and
a justification for the liberty of conscience he advocated throughout
his life.
Benjamin Franklin and His Gods is an original and beautifully
challenging spiritual and intellectual biography. Destined to be a classic.