Ruffin's book on Bentley is a landmark in early American intellectual history. In bringing to life the story of a ferociously cerebral eighteenth-century pastor from Salem, he has sketched a morality tale. Bentley's "Christian Naturalism" blended a belief in the literal truth of the Biblical past with a Deistic conception of the present. This was clearly a God of his Enlightenment age - but ultimately not one that resonated with an American public eager for a more actively engaged deity. Along the way, Ruffin expertly blends theology, metaphysics, cultural history, and political theory. This book is essential not merely for anyone who wants to know about Bentley [it will surely become the standard work on him for decades to come], but anyone looking to gain greater insight to how America grappled with the Enlightenment itself.