Both the Bible and the Constitution have the status of “Great Code,” but each of these important texts is controversial as well as enigmatic. They are asked to speak to situations that their authors could not have anticipated on their own. In this book, one of our greatest religious historians brings his vast knowledge of the history of biblical interpretation to bear on the question of constitutional interpretation. Jaroslav Pelikan compares the methods by which the official interpreters of the Bible and the Constitution—the Christian Church and the Supreme Court, respectively—have approached the necessity of interpreting, and reinterpreting, their important texts. In spite of obvious differences, both texts require close, word-by-word exegesis, an awareness of opinions that have gone before, and a willingness to ask new questions of old codes, Pelikan observes. He probes for answers to the question of what makes something authentically “constitutional” or “biblical,” and he demonstrates how an understanding of either biblical interpretation or constitutional interpretation can illuminate the other in important ways.

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.

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.

This book came because I wanted to be a notary public. I met the lady in charge. She asked me to raise my right hand and swear to uphold the Constitution. My answer was, "I do not know what it says." Her answer was what caused me to study more and then do much intensive studying. She said, "That is okay. We don't know it either. This is the courthouse. That is okay. We do not need to know it." But God, He made me go back to my Church office, find a copy of the United States Constitution, and study others. The Declaration of Independence, the Olivette Petition, and then our Constitution are documenting what men wrote, wanting a nation where men can serve God freely. "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable [that cannot be taken away or given away] rights." I began learning that Matthew 22:15-22 and Romans 13 had so many different meanings from other preachers. It was confusing. "That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends it is the right of the people to alter [we try that at our polls] or to abolish it." We the people have the right under God and government to abolish bad government. Exercise it. You will learn the twenty-five reasons they gave for their freedom from tyranny. Today you will see that eleven of those reasons of separations are in our America today. "To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understand shall attain unto wise counsels" (Prov. 1:2, 5).

Contending for the Constitution is a companion volume to the popular work Defending the Declaration. As author Gary Amos did concerning the Declaration, Mark Beliles and Doug Anderson present their case that the Constitution is based on biblical principles and Christian influence. Using primary source evidence, the authors give an easy-reading history of the Constitutional Convention and the Founder's emphasis on religion being necessary for its success. They show how the spirit of the Constitution has greatly diminished today and issue a call for its defense. -- from the publisher.