City on a Hill? America’s 250 Year Experiment

As Americans celebrate 250 years since the birth of the USA, we ask what the American project has delivered and what its future might be?

Life & Faith examines the 250th anniversary of the USA. What were the founding ideals? How much have those ideals been realised? What might the future of the union be?

And what about the contribution and implications of the religious layer to this story. Is, or was the United States ever, a “Christian country?” Well, it’s ... complicated. It takes some untangling.

To sort through the complexity we are joined by historian Mark Noll, Bible Scholar and Cultural Commentator Darrell Bock and expert in American politics and foreign policy David Smith.

Explore:

Mark Noll, America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln

Mark Noll, America’s Book: The Rise and Decline of a Bible Civilisation 1794 - 1911

David Smith, Religious Persecution and Political Order in the United States