Holmes, David L. (David Lynn Holmes)

PERSONAL:

Born in Highland Park, MI. Education: Michigan State University, B.A.; Columbia University, M.A.; Princeton University, M.A., Ph.D.; postgraduate studies at Union Theological Seminary and Duke University Divinity School. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Episcopalian.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Religious Studies, College of William and Mary, Sir Christopher Wren Bldg., Williamsburg, VA, 23187-8795.

CAREER:

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, former instructor in English; College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, instructor in English, 1965-68; began as assistant professor, became professor of religious studies, 1965-2005, Walter G. Mason professor of religious studies, 2005—. Visiting professor, University of Virginia, for five academic years; visiting professor, Nashotah House Theological Seminary, 2004.

MEMBER:

American Society of Church History, Historical Society of the Episcopal Church, Partners for Sacred Places, Episcopal Guild of Scholars, Bishop James Madison Society, Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Thomas Ashley Graves Award for Sustained Excellence in Classroom Teaching, College of William and Mary, 1993; Outstanding Faculty Award of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1996; D.H. L., Lycoming College, 2000.

WRITINGS:

A Brief History of the Episcopal Church: With a Chapter on the Anglican Reformation and an Appendix on the Annulment of Henry VIII, Trinity Press International (Valley Forge, PA), 1993.

The Life of Devereux Jarratt, 1995.

A Nation Mourns, 1999.

The Religion of the Founding Fathers, Ash Lawn-Highland (Charlottesville, VA), 2003.

The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2006.

Also contributor to professional and popular journals.

SIDELIGHTS:

David L. Holmes is a religious scholar with a particular interest in the history of American religion that has led him to study the religious beliefs of the nation's founding fathers and to write extensively about them. In The Religion of the Founding Fathers, Holmes focuses on six founding fathers of the United States and the ways in which their religion affected them both personally and politically. Although conventional theory suggests that the first several American presidents favored reason over theology and were largely Deistic in religion, Holmes argues that these men fell into three categories: Deists, Deistic Christians, and orthodox Protestant Christians, with the largest number falling into the second category. Popular in Europe and in the American colonies during the eighteenth- and early nineteenth-centuries, Deism applied the test of reason to religious doctrine and led to such movements as Unitarianism. L. Kriz, in a review for Library Journal, called the book a "short but dynamic study," as well as "illuminating."

Holmes continues his study of the early American religious beliefs in The Faiths of the Founding Fathers. Here he analyzes why so few women accepted Deism and discusses the faiths of such founding mothers as Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolly Madison, and Elizabeth Kourtright Monroe. He also examines the orthodox Christian faiths of such founding fathers as Samuel Adams, John Jay, and Elias Boudinot. The book was well received, both critically and commercially, and sold briskly upon its release. Alan Wolfe wrote in the New York Times Book Review: "Holmes, to his credit, never falls into the trap of judging 18thcentury figures by 21st-century standards. He also offers exceptionally insightful guidelines for judging the faith of the founding fathers." Christian Century reviewer Gerald L. Sittser attested that Holmes "writes with clarity, conciseness and objectivity."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Prospect, September 1, 2006, Peter Steinfels, "Be Not Afraid," review of The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, p. 53.

Booklist, April 1, 2006, Ray Olson, review of The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, p. 7.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, November 1, 2006, J.W. Frost, review of The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, p. 497.

Campaigns & Elections, April 1, 2006, Robin T. Reid, "Politics and Religion," p. 56.

Christian Century, July 11, 2006, Gerald L. Sittser, "Faithful Citizens: Being American and Christian," review of The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, p. 32.

First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, October 1, 2006, Michael Novak, "Running into a Wall," review of The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, p. 44.

Library Journal, July 1, 2003, "Autism through the Lifespan," p. 48; April 1, 2006, L. Kriz, review of The Religion of the Founding Fathers, p. 99.

New York Law Journal, July 7, 2006, Phil Schatz, review of The Faiths of the Founding Fathers.

New York Review of Books, June 8, 2006, Gordon S. Wood, "American Religion: The Great Retreat," review of The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, p. 60.

New York Times Book Review, May 7, 2006, Alan Wolfe, "Keeping the Faith at Arm's Length," review of The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, p. 26.

Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, spring, 2004, Daniel L. Dreisbach, review of The Religion of the Founding Fathers.

Washington Post Book World, June 11, 2006, David Liss, review of The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, p. 5.

ONLINE

Houston Chronicle Online,http://www.chron.com/ (May 12, 2006), James D. Fairbanks, "A Belief in Providence," review of The Religion of the Founding Fathers.

San Francisco Chronicle Online,http://www.sfgate.com/ (July 3, 2006), David Ian Miller, "Finding My Religion," interview with David L. Holmes.