Edwin Gaustad, R.I.P.

A giant in the field of American religious history has passed.

Here is a snippet from the New York Times obituary of Edwin Gaustad:

Edwin S. Gaustad, who took his place in the front rank of American religious historians with seminal works on the religious ideas of the founding fathers, especially Thomas Jefferson, and the arguments about church versus state that evolved from the dissenting sects in colonial America, died on March 25 at his home in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 87. The death was confirmed by his daughter Susan.

Edwin Gaustad wrote about the views of the founding fathers.

Although his principal field was colonial religious history, Professor Gaustad ranged far and wide as a scholar. He explored the contested territory of religious liberty, pluralism and dissent in colonial America, but he also wrote general histories that carried the story forward to the present day and published a series of atlases, frequently updated, that gave a geographical picture of religious belief in the United States. His first book, “The Great Awakening in New England” (1957), made the case that the religious revival fanned by preachers like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield had more than religious importance, profoundly affecting political and intellectual life in America. He also challenged the revisionist view that the movement was really an economic and class insurgency, arguing that it enjoyed support among all classes.

Other obituaries:
Baptist History and Heritage
Associated Baptist Press

I never met Gaustad, but learned a great deal from his work. I read his Religious History of America in divinity school, regularly use his Documentary History of Religion in America, and anyone who reads my Was America Founded as a Christian Nation: A Historical Introduction will notice my debt to Gaustad’s Sworn on the Altar of God: A Religious Biography of Thomas Jefferson.

Thanks to Paul Harvey at Religion in American History for calling Gaustad’s death to my attention.