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.

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.

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.

"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?"--

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).