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In Washington’s God: Religion, Liberty, and the Father of Our Country (Basic Books, 2006), Michael Novak—one of the country’s leading conservative thinkers—and his daughter Jana Novak offer the first in-depth look at the religious life of our country’s greatest founding father, George Washington. Over the last few years, interest in the Founding Fathers has grown enormously. In this collaborative effort, the Novaks offer a surprising new perspective on perhaps the best-known founder of all.

Washington has long been viewed as the patron saint of secular government, but Washington’s God reveals that it was Washington’s strong faith in divine providence that gave meaning and force to his monumental life. Throughout his career, Washington held fast to the conviction that America’s liberty was dependent on faithfulness to God’s will and trust in providence.

Washington’s God portrays Washington not only as a man of resource, strength, and virtue, but also as a man with deeply religious values. This new perspective of Washington—as a man whose religion guided his governance—will thrust him into today’s debates about the role of faith in government and will challenge everything we thought we knew about the inner life of the father of our country.

The Novaks will be joined by historians Daniel Dreisbach and Matthew Spalding.