"In the Hands of a Good Providence": Religion in the Life of George Washington [Hardcover]

Mary V. Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2008

Attempts by evangelical Christians to claim Washington and other founders as their own, and scholars' ongoing attempts to contradict these claims, are nothing new. Particularly after Washington was no longer around to refute them, legends of his Baptist baptism or secret conversion to Catholicism began to proliferate. Mount Vernon researcher Mary Thompson endeavors to get beyond the current preoccupation with whether Washington and other founders were or were not evangelical Christians to ask what place religion had in their lives. Thompson follows Washington and his family over several generations, situating her inquiry in the context of new work on the place of religion in colonial and postrevolutionary Virginia and the Chesapeake.

Thompson considers Washington's active participation as a vestryman and church warden as well as a generous donor to his parish prior to the Revolution, and how his attendance declined after the war. He would attend special ceremonies, and stood as godparent to the children of family and friends, but he stopped taking communion and resigned his church office. Something had changed, but was it Washington, the church, or both? Thompson concludes that he was a devout Anglican, of a Latitudinarian bent, rather than either an evangelical Christian or a Deist. The meaning of this description, Thompson allows, when applied to eighteenth-century Virginia gentlemen, is far from self-evident, leaving ample room for speculation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"No one interested in Washington's religion should overlook this well-written and well-researched monograph." - Thomas Taylor, Wittenberg University --Church History, Volume 79, Number 4 (December 1, 2010), pp. 944

"...an excellent look at the place of religion in the life of this most reticent of men." - Mary Coleman, Hartford Seminary --Reviews in Religion & Theology, Volume 17, Issue 2 (March 2010), pp. 158-159

"On the whole, Thompson handles her source material with commendable care...." - Edward G. Lengel, senior editor of the Papers of George Washington --Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 118, Number 1 (January 2010), pp. 72-74

"Both the general public and historians will find this to be an important book...." - Edward L. Bond, Alabama A&M University --The Journal of Southern History, Vol. LXXVI, No. 3 (August 2010), pp. 701-702

"...a thought-provoking book...lets its historical subjects speak for themselves...." - Whitney A. Martinko --The Virginia Quarterly Review, Vol. 85, No. 2 (April 2009)

This is likely the best book that will ever be written on Washington and religion, and it may be as close as we will come to an understanding of Washington's Christianity.

(Frank E. GrizzardDirector of the Lee Family Digital Archive at Washington and Lee University and, author of George! A Guide to All Things Washington )

This useful monograph raises important questions and should prompt scholars to reexamine the role of religion in Washington's personal life and public career.

(Paul K. Longmore, San Francisco State University Journal of American History )

From the Back Cover

"The vexed topic of George Washington and religion has long cried out for an accomplished scholar with a cool head and a sure hand, and Mary V. Thompson is exactly that person.  She has given us a searching study that is wise, sensitive, and deeply researched and that will stand as the authoritative work on the subject for many years to come." - Ron Chernow, author of The House of Morgan; Titan; and Alexander Hamilton

"This book will transform the debate over George Washington's religion for some years to come.  The author situates George Washington in the religious tradition extending from his ancestors to the generations that succeeded his; uncovers evidence about his own religious formation and the formation he tried to pass on to the younger generation.  Thompson brings forth new data and rich material, in the context of which she places claims of earlier writers about his religion.  She shows unusual sensitivity to religion in Virginia in Washington's time." - Michael Novak [co-author of Washington's God:  Religion, Liberty, and the Father of Our Country]

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: University of Virginia Press (October 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813927633
• ISBN-13: 978-0813927633
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,199,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mary V. Thompson began life as an "army brat" and, as a result of her father's work as an army chaplain, was raised in a number of locations in the United States, as well as West Germany and the occupied city of West Berlin. She is a graduate of: New Dorp High School in Staten Island, New York (1973); Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama (B.A. 1977; History Major; Folklore Minor); and the University of Virginia (M.A. 1980; History).

Mary has been on the staff at George Washington's home, Mount Vernon, since 1980, where she has gone from giving tours to 8,000 people per day, to managing the curatorial collection, to serving as the staff historian. Among her proudest accomplishments were curating the travelling exhibition "Treasures from Mount Vernon: George Washington Revealed" (1998-2000); doing background research for the 1999 re-enactment of George Washington's funeral; and ensuring that the enslaved community at Mount Vernon is remembered. She received the 2009 Alexandria History Award from the Alexandria Historical Society for her first book, "In the Hands of a Good Providence: Religion in the Life of George Washington" (University Press of Virginia, 2008). She lives in the Tauxemont Historic District in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband, Tony Bates, an artist and poet. They have four "children": a West Highland White Terrier and three cats.

Although this is Mary's first book, she has written chapters for books edited by other historians, as well as articles for several periodicals. She has also given talks on a number of topics relating to the Washingtons and Mount Vernon over the years. For examples of some of those, see http://www.mountvernon.org/learn/collections/index.cfm/ss/36/, where you will also find additional information on the subject of George Washington and religion, originally planned as possible appendices for the book, which the publisher felt would be better on the web.

Mary is currently working on a book about the enslaved community at Mount Vernon, tentatively titled "They Work Only From Sun to Sun": Slave Life at George Washington's Mount Vernon.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest discourse on George Washington's faith, July 6, 2009

By 

Richard M. Lim (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: "In the Hands of a Good Providence": Religion in the Life of George Washington (Hardcover)

For all that we know about George Washington, his faith has remained a mystery. The main reason for this is Washington himself, whose natural reticence is no more apparent than in the matters of his soul. Sifting through his papers for evidence of his beliefs is a daunting task, but Ms. Thompson does an admirable and evenhanded job and sheds new light on an old subject. She provides the proper context for Washington's beliefs by exploring the religious environment in which he lived - 18th century Virginian Anglicanism. To those who claim Washington was not a Christian she counters than they provide a narrow definition for Christianity, namely a modern-day evangelical Christian. She posits that Washington was a Christian who saw his actions as a statement of faith, rather than mere words. He supported the Church, was a regular churchgoer, was familiar with the Bible since childhood, bought dozens of Christian sermons, took the oath as a Godfather eight times, and was a constant donor to charities. Ms. Thompson is in a unique position to address this issue with her extensive familiarity with Washington's papers as the Research Historian at the Collections Department of the Mount Vernon. She brings to light many of Washington's early writings which demonstrates his familiarity with the Bible and contains references to Christ. Does she claim to know the exact state of Washington's soul? No, she humbly answers... but the preponderance of evidence points to a self-effacing Christianity.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbiased, superb testament of Washington's faith, December 31, 2009

By 

Anonymous - See all my reviews

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This review is from: "In the Hands of a Good Providence": Religion in the Life of George Washington (Hardcover)

Written by Mount Vernon researcher Mary V. Thompson, this book is a quintessential answer to the question "Was George Washington truly a Christian?" Thompson allows Washington to speak for himself by quoting his letters, speeches, and orders extensively throughout this book. She places Washington's faith in the context of the times, by not only detailing what the Anglican low-church was like, but by illustrating the faiths of his friends, associates, and family. The Christianity of George Washington, as concluded in this book, was not the evangelical kind of later generations, nor was it the Deistic kind of his peers. Instead, Washington's religious temperment was very much like his personality: reserved but profound. He participated in church life, serving as a vestryman, he gave money to many different churches, donated to charities, read and purchased religious books for his library and his wards, attended services as frequently as was normal, encouraged the spread of Christianity, and sought to establish a nation that was founded on religious sentiments, not just Christian, but of any faith. Other highlights include a discussion of the changes in Washington's relgious beliefs, his attending many different churches, his work with the indians, and the religious/moral basis of freeing his slaves. This book was exhaustively documented from mainly primary sources which provides infalliable support. My only complaint was that people were frequently introduced by describing their relationship to Washington, then later their names were provided. However, this books seems to be intended for an audience quite familiar with Washington so this is not really an issue. Overall, I was inspired by Washington's appeal for religious toleration but also a personal adherence and obligation to one's own religion. I felt like I became aquainted with Washington because I read his own words, and this book was transportive in that I felt as if I was actually in early America. An engaging, unbiased, indispensible look at religion in the life of the Founding Father.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HISTORY AT ITS BEST, May 2, 2010

By 

strategos "fighting for truth" (Spanish Fork, UT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: "In the Hands of a Good Providence": Religion in the Life of George Washington (Hardcover)

I recently obtained a copy of this book to use for a paper I am writing on the topic of George Washington's religion. As far as I am aware, it is the only work besides "George Washington & Religion" by Paul F. Boller (1963) that focuses exclusively on Washington's religious beliefs. Of the two, I found this one to be the superior book. The conclusions were better supported, and important evidence was brought to light that Boller either overlooked or chose not to include.

This book included significant original research and insightful interpretations. For example, many historians have searched in vain for evidence that George Washington engaged in regular Bible study. In the absence of a "shout it from the rooftops" declaration from Washington himself on the subject, they have concluded that Washington was a deist or a luke-warm Christian at best. Thompson took a very different approach, first by including eyewitness accounts from Tobias Lear about Washington's family bible study, then by investigating the books and artwork present in the Washington household. Finally, she identified numerous Biblical references in Washington's personal letters, many of which are so obscure that someone unfamiliar with the Bible could hardly have written them.

As a Christian, I have long believed that Washington was not a deist. As a student of history, I wanted to know the unbiased truth. Thanks to this inspired work, I have been able to reconcile these previously conflicting beliefs.