Virtual - A Promised Land: Jewish Patriots, the American Revolution, and the Birth of Religious Freedom

Virtual - A Promised Land: Jewish Patriots, the American Revolution, and the Birth of Religious Freedom

Historian Adam Jortner shows how Judaism was central to the debate over religious freedom in America at a critical juncture. Jews played a critical role both in winning the American Revolution—fighting for the Patriot cause from Bunker Hill to Yorktown—and in defining the republic that was created from it. As Jortner reveals in this eye-opening account, the decision to extend citizenship to all religions was not a twentieth-century phenomenon prompted by immigration and Supreme Court rulings, but a debate the Founding generation itself had had —unambiguously deciding against the idea of a nation defined exclusively by Christianity. Instead, the Founders, Jewish patriots, and their allies sought and achieved the broadest possible definition of religious liberty, and the separation of church and state. A Promised Land sheds new light on this key struggle in early America and the driving forces behind it.

Biography:
Adam Jortner is the Goodwin-Philpott Eminent Professor of Religion in the Department of History. He specializes in the history of religion in the American Revolution and the early nation, with particular emphasis on religious liberty, patriotism and piety, theology, and new religious traditions. In addition to A Promised Land, he is author of the award-winning The Gods of Prophetstown, a study of Native American religion, deism, and military conflict in the Old Northwest, and Blood from the Sky, a history of miracles in the early republic.

History Forum 250: Revisiting the Revolution

Join celebrated authors and award-winning historians for a thought-provoking series on the history and legacy of the American Revolution during our nation’s 250th anniversary.

This program is part of MN250, commemorating the 250th anniversary (semiquincentennial) of the American Revolution.

Since 2004, the Minnesota Historical Society’s History Forum has brought the nation’s leading historians and scholars to St. Paul to enrich our understanding of American history. Each year’s line-up features speakers who demonstrate excellence in historical scholarship and showcase the diversity, power, and complexity of our shared American story.

All events have live-captioning.

Event Location:

Virtual