The preacher’s republic

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, July 3rd. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: the spiritual roots of the American Revolution.

Earlier this year, the historical drama A Great Awakening explored the friendship between Benjamin Franklin and evangelist George Whitefield … and how that friendship helped shape America’s founding. The film is now streaming on Wonder Project, a new faith-based entertainment platform.

WORLD reviewer Steve Limkeman now with his review.

STEVE LIMKEMAN: A Great Awakening begins with two young men who want nothing to do with religion. Benjamin Franklin finds his father’s candlestick-making unenlightening and dreams of greater things. His father would like him to be a preacher, but Franklin is equally disillusioned at the thought of boring the congregation on Sundays reading sermons by other men. So with his father’s blessing, he apprentices at his elder brother’s print shop – with one admonition:

JOSIAH FRANKLIN: Don’t allow the sun to set on your faith.

Several decades later, the 1787 Constitutional Convention is overshadowed by a struggling nation. Revolutionary War veterans need assistance, children are desperate for food scraps, and political leaders no longer prioritize seeking God in prayer. Though Franklin is troubled by some elements of the convention, he still believes in the power of the printed word, a power that he has passed down to his grandson Benjamin Franklin Bach. Those who appreciate Franklin’s proclivity for proverbs will not be disappointed by this film. When a querulous Alexander Hamilton asks why Franklin has been so quiet in the debate, Franklin quips:

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: I believe, Mr. Hamilton, that he that speaks much, is much mistaken.

The narrative’s real power comes not from the Founders’ fiery philosophical debates, but from Franklin’s friendship with a man of faith: George Whitefield. Perusing some of Franklin’s old documents, his grandson asks, incredulously, how his grandfather could have been friends with a preacher:

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BACH: Was he part of the revolution?

FRANKLIN: Benny, George Whitefield was the revolution.

Franklin’s sensational claim suggests that the Christian revival the colonies experienced in the mid-18th century, historically known as The Great Awakening, created the definitive motive and unique character that led to American independence from Great Britain. And of course the film is not wrong. Principles like “liberty” and “all men created equal” derive their source from their Creator, as is asserted in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence.

A brief window into Whitefield’s childhood claims that he never thought much of the pulpit either. He attends Oxford in 1732 with his sights set on an actor’s stage, inspired by some of Shakespeare’s best lines from Hamlet. But an act of grace by Oxford’s Holy Club changes his trajectory. After redirecting his booming voice to a dramatic reading of Scripture, Whitefield writes home to ask his mother a question.

WHITEFIELD: If as an actor I could make fiction believable, imagine what could happen if I speak the truth from my heart?

Jonathan Blair delivers a powerful performance as the young preacher who set America’s soul on fire. Whitefield’s soaring rhetoric and compelling compassion draw tens of thousands. The movie marvelously brings Whitefield’s thunderous oratory to life; his sermons seamlessly weave together Scripture, ancient and contemporary ethics, harsh rebukes of lukewarm leadership and evocative appeals to the deepest desires of the human heart.

WHITEFIELD: O, does not your dead heart quicken to life at the thought that you were fashioned for such purpose and have yet a part to play in the unfolding kingdom of God!

Franklin studies Whitefield’s Philadelphia sermon to try and scientifically prove that one man’s voice, unaided by amplification, could not possibly reach the masses that turned out for his public preaching. Dumbfounded, he discovers that Whitefield actually could have reached 30,000 in Philadelphia, a number greater than the city’s whole population. Witnessing renewed religious fervor among the populous, Franklin intends to partner with Whitefield to capitalize upon it:

FRANKLIN: The Pennsylvania Gazette is the leading newspaper in His Majesty’s thirteen colonies. It would be extremely effective in communicating your whereabouts to ensure the largest crowds possible and, with it, the largest possible offerings.

In 1770, after 30 years of friendship, Whitefield begs Franklin to take the claims of the gospel seriously. Though Franklin long maintained his skeptical Deism, the colonies’ miraculous deliverance from the world’s most powerful army dramatically deepened his faith. Returning to the contentious Constitutional Convention at the close of the film, Franklin gives a passionate speech invoking the need for the delegates to appeal to the Lord in prayer, to seek the wisdom to forge a lasting government:

FRANKLIN: I have lived, sir, a long time. And the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I have seen of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men.

The film asks all the right questions and delivers powerful arguments for the need for a new birth in Jesus Christ. Benjamin Franklin once popularized George Whitefield’s sermons and journals for profit, inadvertently awakening the nation’s faith in the process. It is my hope that this movie contributes to honor the legacy of George Whitefield and all the Lord accomplished through him.

I’m Steve Limkeman.

EICHER: And one more recommendation for the holiday weekend: we’ve also posted a review of Young Washington at WNG.org. It’s a look at the future president before he became the father of our country … and a thoughtful reflection on what that story still says about America. The review is online at WNG.org. We’ll place a link in today’s transcript.

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