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This lecture by Ryan K. Smith, Ph.D., explores the role of religious faith in the founding of the United States and what the revolutionaries meant by terms such as "Nature's God" and "Divine Providence." The discussion considers the diversity of religious groups in the colonies, the beliefs of key founders, and the documents that shaped both religious freedom and national identity. These questions remain deeply relevant in contemporary debates.

About the speaker

Ryan K. Smith (Ph.D., University of Delaware) is a professor in the Department of History in the College of Humanities and Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University. He specializes in American religious history, material culture, and historic preservation. His work includes studies of Shaker furniture, American church architecture in the nineteenth century, the adoption of the Latin cross as a Christian symbol, the spiritual meaning of historic lighthouses, and the landscapes of cemeteries. His book "Death and Rebirth in a Southern City: Richmond’s Historic Cemeteries" (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020) explores the cultural and historical significance of burial landscapes.