The Origins of American Identity

From the Old World to the “Indispensable Man”

Event Overview

Join us on October 27 for an evening exploring the origins of the American identity. Liberty’s emergence from the Reformation allowed Enlightenment thinkers to begin to exchange their ideas freely. This exchange led to America becoming a nation of laws. George Washington, the American Cincinnatus, is the personification of this union between post-Reformation liberty and law. As liberator and lawgiver, Washington embodied both classical republicanism’s civic virtue and, as the American Moses and a post-Reformation Anglican, the Judeo-Christian tradition.

We will be joined by Dr. Gabriel N.E. Fluhrer who will examine the principles incubated in the Reformation that led to a republic of self-government, and Dr. Jeffry H. Morrison who will discuss George Washington, the American Moses. The conversation will be moderated by CSS President and C.E.O. Marion Smith, followed by a Q&A.

Cocktails and hor d’oeuvres service will begin at 5:15 p.m. and resume after Q&A. Our lecture will begin promptly at 6:00 p.m.  

 

Space is limited. Kindly RSVP to Joel Bowers, regional vice president for CSS–Southeast, at joel@commonsensesociety.org. 

 

Please contact Joel Bowers if you are interested in sponsorship opportunities.  

Featured Speakers

Dr. Gabriel N.E. Fluhrer is the senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga, TN. He previously served as an assistant minister at Second Presbyterian Church in Greenville, SC, First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, MS, and First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, SC. He was also the founding pastor of Shiloh Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, NC. Dr. Fluhrer received his B.A. from the University of South Carolina, M.Div. from Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and Ph.D. from Westminster Theological Seminary. He is the editor of several books and the author of Alive: How the Resurrection of Christ Changes Everything and The Beauty of Divine Grace.

Dr. Jeffry Morrison is professor of American studies at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia, and director of academics at the federal government’s James Madison Foundation in Alexandria, VA. He graduated with distinction from Boston College and from Georgetown University, where he earned the M.A. and Ph.D. in government. Dr. Morrison has also held faculty positions at Princeton University, the U.S. Air Force Academy, Georgetown University, and Regent University. He is the author or editor of five books on American political culture, including The Political Philosophy of George Washington.