D James Kennedy the Historian?

In reading through a 2003 publication of Coral Ridge Ministries called "What They Believed" I have found several statements worth noting. D James Kennedy, of course, is the author of this booklet.

For example on Washington he said:
"It is without question that, as a result of this training, George Washington came to a living faith in the Divine Savior. He came to trust in the shed blood of Christ, the perfect life of Jesus Christ, in which he was robed and in which he stood before God."-14

In my mind, having studied Washington's faith, I think that statement maybe going too far. While it is certainly true that Washington was a religious man I don't know that there is solid evidence that he was a born again Christian. Also if one just does a basic review of the literature on Washington's faith one will quickly discover that his faith is not "without question".

More troubling than the above statement is the way it is followed up:
"There are those who say, 'Well, he may have been virtuous, he may even have been religious, but he was not even a Christian. He was a deist.' Tragically that lie is repeated over and over again. Unfortunately, the people who make that statement wouldn't know the difference between a deist and a Zoroastrian if they tripped over one, or else they know next to nothing about George Washington." -14

Kennedy goes on to say that "I know of no historical character in the history of America who gives more frequent testimony to his belief in the providence of God than does George Washington." (15). Considering men like Roger Williams, Obadiah Holmes, George Whitefield, Patrick Henry, John Jay, and Johnathan Edwards, that is a strange thing to say.

Another thing that concerns me about this publication is that quotes of Washington's prayers are given without a footnote (etc). The result of this is that I have no clue where these quotes are being pulled from. What is the source of these very evangelical quotes? Certainly if these are truly the private words of Washington then there can be no doubting his evangelical Christian faith. However the booklet contains no footnotes or source notes. This practice is very sloppy mainly when such quotes are being used to support the claim that Washington was a born again believer.

Myself, I have no doubt that Washington would have considered himself a Christian. I have no doubt that Washington was a religious gentleman who believed in God. I do not believe that Washington was a full blown deist, in fact he very well may not have been a deist at all. However to come to the conclusion that Washington was "beyond question" a born again believer is simply not something I can do based on the evidence I have seen.

As I read through this booklet I am amazed at how often Kennedy takes shots at people who disagree with him on Washington. For example at one point he calls people that he refers to as historical revisionists "termites in the timber of civilization" who "can't stand greatness" and who "have been very busy destroying the foundations of this country." (11). I don't consider those type of attacks to be the writing of serious historian. The booklet does not seem aimed so much at education as much as it is aimed towards defending a pre-determined view.

 

==I agree. Kennedy's little book is filled with very evangelical prayers that he claims were written in Washington's own hand. I am not sure where he got these prayers from because he does not provide any footnotes or end notes (etc). If he turned that book into any of my graduate professors he would recieve a great big "F". If he turned it in to me, well, I would hand it back and tell him to put some source information on it. Then I would subtract points for turning it in late and incomplete.

I did, and continue to, suspect that Parson Weems is the source of the prayers he provides. However I have not had a chance to do a comparison.

==Correct. Washington's writings/speeches make no reference to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In fact his language seems often very formal and somewhat distant. I am sure Washington thought of himself as a Christian, and I am sure he believed in God, but that does not mean he was a born again believer in Jesus Christ. I know people like that today, I suspect we all do. They attend church, they believe in Jesus, but they are not born again.

==I think there are two factors at work here. (1) The person does not know that there is a difference. (2) The person wants to think that they will meet George Washington in heaven. As for me, I want the facts of history to lead me in the right direction. I don't want to believe something about Washington (etc) simply because I want to, I want to believe it because it is true.

==I agree but with Washington the problem is that he is very vague. His language is very deistic but we don't have any doctrinal statement (etc) from him (as we do with Jefferson). So it is my conviction that Washington was, what one historian called, a Christian deist.

==I tend to agree.