Though America’s ideals were riddled with ironies and inconsistencies, the nation still emerged as a global beacon of ordered liberty and republican democracy. No one better explained the history and significance of that American nation than Gordon Wood. 
Renewals, revivals, and awakenings are unpredictable, by definition. Christians should not credulously accept them as de facto works of God just because they’re on the news, or on YouTube. But sometimes they produce godly results that last for generations: lives transformed and renewed, people called into vocational ministry, and communities brought to greater wholeness.