Overview

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.

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9781538141663

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Reviews

The Bible in American Law and Politics by John R. Vile provides relatively short and immensely useful entries surveying and distilling scholarship on a tremendous array of subjects. Students of American history, biblical interpretation, and political rhetoric, as well as all those seeking a fuller appreciation of the immeasurable impact the Bible has had, and continues to have, on the American story, stand to gain much from Vile's exhaustive and engaging work.--The Straus Center The Bible in American Law and Politics: A Reference Guide, by John R. Vile, is a welcomed resource for surveying and exploring the Bible's contributions to American political and legal cultures. . . Professor Vile is both academically rigorous in his assessment of the subject matter and respectful of the faith claims he examines. . . . The Bible in American Law and Politics makes a compelling case that the Bible has been a wellspring of principles, themes, values, symbols, and narratives that have informed--for good and ill--diverse aspects of American politics and law. It offers insights into the people, ideas, and events, shaped by a biblical culture, that have influenced the nation's civic life. It also serves as a reminder and a warning that the widespread biblical illiteracy of our own age will inevitably distort the conception Americans have of themselves as a people, their history, and their political endeavors.--Providence Magazine

The Bible in American Law and Politics: A Reference Guide, by John R. Vile, is a welcomed resource for surveying and exploring the Bible's contributions to American political and legal cultures. . . Professor Vile is both academically rigorous in his assessment of the subject matter and respectful of the faith claims he examines. . . . The Bible in American Law and Politics makes a compelling case that the Bible has been a wellspring of principles, themes, values, symbols, and narratives that have informed--for good and ill--diverse aspects of American politics and law. It offers insights into the people, ideas, and events, shaped by a biblical culture, that have influenced the nation's civic life. It also serves as a reminder and a warning that the widespread biblical illiteracy of our own age will inevitably distort the conception Americans have of themselves as a people, their history, and their political endeavors.--Providence Magazine

Author Information

John R. Vile (Ph.D. University of Virginia) is a Professor of Political Science and Dean of the University Honors College at Middle Tennessee State University. He is the author and editor of numerous other works on constitutional law and U.S. history, and such basic American documents and symbols as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the U.S. Constitution and Its Amendments, the American Flag, the Liberty Bell, and the National Anthem.

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