More than a few Evangelical historians are vocal critics of David Barton and Eric Metaxas (for good reason). This week, as we’ve celebrated the July fourth holiday, John Fea and Thomas Kidd have drawn attention to the same well-worn talking points we’ve come to expect. Kidd has specifically referenced Barton’s old and anachronistic claim (this time on Ben Shapiro’s show) about the number of founding fathers with “seminary” or “Bible school” training and on his blog, Fea reports on a recent conversation between Metaxas and other “Count Evangelicals.” Fea again raises the question of fear as a motivating factor for evangelical supporters of Trump.

You can find Kidd’s full Twitter response here. Over at TWOILH, Fea says:

2:45ff: I don’t know of any “progressive” or person of “the Left” who is invoking the French Revolution these days. (I am willing to be proven wrong on this). Metaxas describes the French Revolution in terms of bloodbaths, anarchy, madness, egalitarianism, socialism, and the general lack of freedom. Later in the interview Metaxas says that fear was not a factor in the evangelical turn toward Donald Trump. As I argued in Believe Me, fear-mongers often build on false or exaggerated claims. Isn’t this what Metaxas is doing here? Perkins and Metaxas want to keep everyone scared so they pull the lever for Trump in 2020 and continue to man the ramparts of the culture wars.

Read his full piece here.