James Calvin Davis is a scholar of theological and philosophical ethics and American religious history who serves as the George Adams Ellis Professor of Liberal Arts & Religion at Middlebury College in Vermont. He is the author of The Moral Theology of Roger Williams: Christian Conviction and Public Ethics (2004) and editor of the annotated On Religious Liberty: Selections from the Works of Roger Williams (2008), as well as In Defense of Civility (2010), Forbearance: A Theological Ethic for a Disagreeable Church (2017), and the more whimsical American Liturgy: Finding Theological Meaning in the Holy Days of US Culture (2021).

John Witherspoon skillfully straddled the worlds of Calvinism and Scottish liberalism, theology and revolutionary politics, morality and American republicanism, shaping two generations of American statesmen and churchmen from his Princeton pulpit and lectern. But, like many other founders, he betrayed his own best teachings by owning slaves and condoning chattel slavery. This lucid and learned volume offers a powerful portrait of one of America’s great preachers and teachers, while candidly exposing the clay on his feet and the blood on his hands.

• AcknowledgementsNote about SourcesIntroduction1. Calvinism and Common Sense2. A “Public Spirit”3. “The Obligation of Virtue”4. Schools of Character5. The Character of Dissent6. The Failure of Character7. John Witherspoon and American Political CharacterBibliographyAbout the Author

James Calvin Davis is a scholar of theological and philosophical ethics and American religious history who serves as the George Adams Ellis Professor of Liberal Arts & Religion at Middlebury College in Vermont. He is the author of The Moral Theology of Roger Williams: Christian Conviction and Public Ethics (2004) and editor of the annotated On Religious Liberty: Selections from the Works of Roger Williams (2008), as well as In Defense of Civility (2010), Forbearance: A Theological Ethic for a Disagreeable Church (2017), and the more whimsical American Liturgy: Finding Theological Meaning in the Holy Days of US Culture (2021).

John Witherspoon skillfully straddled the worlds of Calvinism and Scottish liberalism, theology and revolutionary politics, morality and American republicanism, shaping two generations of American statesmen and churchmen from his Princeton pulpit and lectern. But, like many other founders, he betrayed his own best teachings by owning slaves and condoning chattel slavery. This lucid and learned volume offers a powerful portrait of one of America’s great preachers and teachers, while candidly exposing the clay on his feet and the blood on his hands.

• AcknowledgementsNote about SourcesIntroduction1. Calvinism and Common Sense2. A “Public Spirit”3. “The Obligation of Virtue”4. Schools of Character5. The Character of Dissent6. The Failure of Character7. John Witherspoon and American Political CharacterBibliographyAbout the Author

James Calvin Davis is a scholar of theological and philosophical ethics and American religious history who serves as the George Adams Ellis Professor of Liberal Arts & Religion at Middlebury College in Vermont. He is the author of The Moral Theology of Roger Williams: Christian Conviction and Public Ethics (2004) and editor of the annotated On Religious Liberty: Selections from the Works of Roger Williams (2008), as well as In Defense of Civility (2010), Forbearance: A Theological Ethic for a Disagreeable Church (2017), and the more whimsical American Liturgy: Finding Theological Meaning in the Holy Days of US Culture (2021).

John Witherspoon skillfully straddled the worlds of Calvinism and Scottish liberalism, theology and revolutionary politics, morality and American republicanism, shaping two generations of American statesmen and churchmen from his Princeton pulpit and lectern. But, like many other founders, he betrayed his own best teachings by owning slaves and condoning chattel slavery. This lucid and learned volume offers a powerful portrait of one of America’s great preachers and teachers, while candidly exposing the clay on his feet and the blood on his hands.

• AcknowledgementsNote about SourcesIntroduction1. Calvinism and Common Sense2. A “Public Spirit”3. “The Obligation of Virtue”4. Schools of Character5. The Character of Dissent6. The Failure of Character7. John Witherspoon and American Political CharacterBibliographyAbout the Author