The Bible in American Law and Politics

The Bible in American Law and Politics
Author: John R. Vile
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 679
Release: 2020-09-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1538141671

While scholars increasingly recognize the importance of religion throughout American history, The Bible in American Law and Politics is the first reference book to focus on the key role that the Bible has played in American public life. In considering revolting from Great Britain, Americans contemplated whether this was consistent with scripture. Americans subsequently sought to apply Biblical passages to such issues as slavery, women’s rights, national alcoholic prohibition, issues of war and peace, and the like. American presidents continue to take their oath on the Bible. Some of America’s greatest speeches, for example, Lincoln’s Second Inaugural and William Jennings Bryan’s Cross of Gold speech, have been grounded on Biblical texts or analogies. Today, Americans continue to cite the Bible for positions as diverse as LGBTQ rights, abortion, immigration, welfare, health care, and other contemporary issues. By providing essays on key speeches, books, documents, legal decisions, and other writings throughout American history that have sought to buttress arguments through citations to Scriptures or to Biblical figures, John Vile provides an indispensable guide for scholars and students in religion, American history, law, and political science to understand how Americans throughout its history have interpreted and applied the Bible to legal and political issues.

The Bible, the School, and the Constitution

The Bible, the School, and the Constitution
Author: Steven K. Green
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0199913455

Steven K. Green tells the story of the nineteenth-century School Question, the nationwide debate over the place and funding of religious education, and how it became a crucial precedent for American thought about the separation of church and state.

Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers

Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers
Author: Daniel L. Dreisbach
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2016-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199987955

No book was more accessible or familiar to the American founders than the Bible, and no book was more frequently alluded to or quoted from in the political discourse of the age. How and for what purposes did the founding generation use the Bible? How did the Bible influence their political culture? Shedding new light on some of the most familiar rhetoric of the founding era, Daniel Dreisbach analyzes the founders' diverse use of scripture, ranging from the literary to the theological. He shows that they looked to the Bible for insights on human nature, civic virtue, political authority, and the rights and duties of citizens, as well as for political and legal models to emulate. They quoted scripture to authorize civil resistance, to invoke divine blessings for righteous nations, and to provide the language of liberty that would be appropriated by patriotic Americans. Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers broaches the perennial question of whether the American founding was, to some extent, informed by religious--specifically Christian--ideas. In the sense that the founding generation were members of a biblically literate society that placed the Bible at the center of culture and discourse, the answer to that question is clearly "yes." Ignoring the Bible's influence on the founders, Dreisbach warns, produces a distorted image of the American political experiment, and of the concept of self-government on which America is built.

100 Bible Verses That Made America

100 Bible Verses That Made America
Author: Robert J. Morgan
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2020-02-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 078522212X

Bestselling author Robert Morgan explores 100 Bible verses that powerfully impacted our leaders during defining moments in American history and reflects upon what these verses mean for us as a nation today. 100 Bible Verses That Made America is a tour through the biblical roots of American history—a powerful exploration of our country’s founders, leaders, and the critical moments that laid the foundation for the formation of the USA. Had there been no Bible, there would be no America as we know it. It is the Bible that made America. When George Washington was sworn into office as our first president, he did not place his hand on the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States, as important as those documents are. Instead, he swore upon and even kissed the Bible to sanctify this important moment. The Bible, Washington knew, had ushered American history to this point. While not every Founding Father was a Christian, each was knowledgeable about the Bible. And while none of them was perfect, many embraced a deep faith in the unfailing Word of God. 100 Bible Verses That Made America contains: Short, devotional-style chapters, each featuring a Bible verse and how it influenced a historical figure Engaging stories spanning from the Mayflower to modern day Vivid segments that emphasize the Bible as the cornerstone of American history Journey with Robert J. Morgan as he shares the Bible’s role in the defining moments of American history and its impact on the people of our nation, reminding us of the beauty of faith and country and reigniting our passion for both.

Christianity and the Constitution

Christianity and the Constitution
Author: John Eidsmoe
Publisher: Baker Academic
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1995-08-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780801052316

Using the writings of the founders and records of their conversations and activities, John Eidsmoe demonstrates the influence of Christianity on the political convictions of the founding fathers.

The Godless Constitution

The Godless Constitution
Author: Isaac Kramnick
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 196
Release: 1997
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780393315240

The Godless Constitution is a ringing rebuke to the religious right's attempts, fueled by misguided and inaccurate interpretations of American history, to dismantle the wall between church and state erected by the country's founders. The authors, both distinguished scholars, revisit the historical roots of American religious freedom, paying particular attention to such figures as John Locke, Roger Williams, and especially Thomas Jefferson, and examine the controversies, up to the present day, over the proper place of religion in our political life. With a new chapter that explores the role of religion in the public life of George W. Bush's America, The Godless Constitution offers a bracing return to the first principles of American governance.

Did America Have a Christian Founding?

Did America Have a Christian Founding?
Author: Mark David Hall
Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2019-10-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1400211115

A distinguished professor debunks the assertion that America's Founders were deists who desired the strict separation of church and state and instead shows that their political ideas were profoundly influenced by their Christian convictions. In 2010, David Mark Hall gave a lecture at the Heritage Foundation entitled "Did America Have a Christian Founding?" His balanced and thoughtful approach to this controversial question caused a sensation. C-SPAN televised his talk, and an essay based on it has been downloaded more than 300,000 times. In this book, Hall expands upon this essay, making the airtight case that America's Founders were not deists. He explains why and how the Founders' views are absolutely relevant today, showing that they did not create a "godless" Constitution; that even Jefferson and Madison did not want a high wall separating church and state; that most Founders believed the government should encourage Christianity; and that they embraced a robust understanding of religious liberty for biblical and theological reasons. This compelling and utterly persuasive book will convince skeptics and equip believers and conservatives to defend the idea that Christian thought was crucial to the nation's founding--and that this benefits all of us, whatever our faith (or lack of faith).

With Liberty & Justice for Some

With Liberty & Justice for Some
Author: Susan K. Williams Smith
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2020
Genre: African Americans
ISBN: 9780817082123

"In this provocative new book from prophetic preacher and pastor Susan Williams Smith, the author tackles the truths that the church in the United States has long held to be self-evident-that ours is one nation under God, that our U.S. Constitution is (almost) as infallible as the Holy Bible, and that democracy and its principles of justice for all are sacrosanct and protected by both God and government. Yet, history and headlines alike expose the fallacy of those assumptions, particularly when viewed in the light of a national culture of white supremacy and systemic racial injustice. In fact, Smith argues, the two texts we count as sacred have not been merely impotent in eliminating racism; they have been used to support and sustain white supremacy. This important work examines how our foundational documents have failed people of color and asks the question, Can those whom a nation has considered "we the problem" ever become "we the people" who are celebrated in the Preamble to the Constitution? What will it take to reclaim the transforming and affirming power of God and government to secure liberty and justice for all?"--