Meet Baylor’s nationally recognized expert on faith and the Founding Fathers

Religion’s role in the founding and shaping of American life has been much-considered, studied and debated throughout U.S. history — but few are as qualified to provide insight into the topic as Baylor’s Distinguished Professor of History, Dr. Thomas Kidd. In the classroom, on bookshelves and in the media, students and non-students alike have learned from Kidd, who has become one of the nation’s foremost experts on faith and the Founding Fathers.

On campus, Kidd teaches classes on colonial America, the American Revolution and American religious history and serves as the associate director of Baylor’s Institute for the Studies of Religion. At Baylor, he says, he is able to balance teaching and research in a Christian environment — and through those dual threads, Kidd has brought to life early American leaders such as Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry and George Whitefield in books, articles and interviews.

Kidd has won numerous awards for the nine books he’s authored and edited. Last year, his spiritual biography of Franklin, Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father, was named one of the year’s top 10 religion and spirituality books by the ALA’s Booklist Online. Two of Kidd’s other books on religion and early American history were also named among the best books of the year by Christianity Today: God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution in 2011, and The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America in 2008.

In the media, Kidd’s expertise has been called upon by everyone from the Wall Street Journal to the Washington Post, from Christianity Today to C-SPAN, when reporters are looking for insight on both early American and modern figures and faith.

Sic ’em, Dr. Kidd!