Life and Books and Everything The Making of the American Mind with Matthew Spalding
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Feb 2, 2026 Matthew Spalding, Hillsdale professor and author of The Making of the American Mind, explores how the Declaration of Independence draws on theological language and Christian intellectual traditions. He discusses providence, natural law, the Declaration’s crafting and civic role, Protestant textual habits, and whether America was founded as a Christian-influenced but nonsectarian polity.
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Advisor To America250 Commemoration
- Matthew Spalding describes advising the White House Freedom 250 task force for America250 events.
- He views the timing as providential for national renewal amid cultural searching.
God As Central Moral Grounding
- The Declaration repeatedly invokes God and providence, showing theological substance rather than mere deism.
- God appears five times and functions as a moral grounding and judge in the document.
Non-Sectarian Yet Theologically Rooted
- The founders sought a non-sectarian but substantive moral ground for politics, not to expunge religion.
- That ground drew on Christian and classical natural law rather than watered-down rationalism.
