America Is a Nation of Converts, with Thomas Kidd
With Friends Like These
English - July 24, 2020 07:01 - 48 minutes - 66 MB - ★★★★★ - 6.3K ratingsSociety & Culture News Politics politics entrepreneurship health interview news business culture comedy leadership entrepreneur Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Previous Episode: The Moment You Realize You’re White
Next Episode: The Science Writer Who Became a Mystic
Thousands of people crowding public venues to hear the word of the Lord. Men fainting, women claiming to be healed, all rejoicing at being “born again.” When you think of “converts,” this may be what you picture, because it’s a familiar scene — more familiar than you may realize. The quintessentially American revival meeting was born before the country itself, in the mid-1700s, during what we call today “The First Great Awakening.” Our guest this week is Thomas Kidd, a historian at Baylor University of The Great Awakening and colonial society. I brought him on to walk us all through the specifics of it, and to speculate on how the American thirst for spiritual change reverberates today.