The Founders and the Bible /Carl J. Richard.
Richard, Carl J.,
The Founders and the Bible /Carl J. Richard. - Lanham : Rowman and Littlefield, (c)2016. - 1 online resource (x, 385 pages)
Includes bibliographies and index.
A people of the book -- A lifelong passion -- Heroes and villains -- Divine intervention -- The new Israel -- Religion, morality, and republicanism -- Other shared beliefs -- Differences -- Human nature and balanced government -- Church and state.
The religious beliefs of America s founding fathers have been a popular and contentious subject for recent generations of American readers. In The Founders and the Bible, historian Carl J. Richard examines the framers relationship with the Bible to assess the conflicting claims of those who argue that they were Christians founding a Christian nation against those who see them as Deists or modern secularists. Richard argues that it is impossible to understand the Founders without understanding the Biblically infused society that produced them. They were steeped in a biblical culture that pervaded their schools, homes, churches, and society. To show the fundamental role of religious beliefs during the Founding and early years of the republic, Richard carefully reconstructs the beliefs of 30 Founders; their lifelong engagements with Scripture; their biblically-infused political rhetoric; their powerful beliefs in a divine Providence that protected them and guided the young nation; their beliefs in the superiority of Christian ethics and in the necessity of religion to republican government; their beliefs in spiritual equality, free will, and the afterlife; their religious differences; the influence of their biblical conception of human nature on their formulation of state and federal constitutions; and their use of biblical precedent to advance religious freedom.
9781442254657
2020739123
Religion and politics--History--United States--18th century.
Religion and state--History--United States--18th century.
Founding Fathers of the United States--Religious life.
Electronic Books.
BL2525 / .F686 2016
The Founders and the Bible /Carl J. Richard. - Lanham : Rowman and Littlefield, (c)2016. - 1 online resource (x, 385 pages)
Includes bibliographies and index.
A people of the book -- A lifelong passion -- Heroes and villains -- Divine intervention -- The new Israel -- Religion, morality, and republicanism -- Other shared beliefs -- Differences -- Human nature and balanced government -- Church and state.
The religious beliefs of America s founding fathers have been a popular and contentious subject for recent generations of American readers. In The Founders and the Bible, historian Carl J. Richard examines the framers relationship with the Bible to assess the conflicting claims of those who argue that they were Christians founding a Christian nation against those who see them as Deists or modern secularists. Richard argues that it is impossible to understand the Founders without understanding the Biblically infused society that produced them. They were steeped in a biblical culture that pervaded their schools, homes, churches, and society. To show the fundamental role of religious beliefs during the Founding and early years of the republic, Richard carefully reconstructs the beliefs of 30 Founders; their lifelong engagements with Scripture; their biblically-infused political rhetoric; their powerful beliefs in a divine Providence that protected them and guided the young nation; their beliefs in the superiority of Christian ethics and in the necessity of religion to republican government; their beliefs in spiritual equality, free will, and the afterlife; their religious differences; the influence of their biblical conception of human nature on their formulation of state and federal constitutions; and their use of biblical precedent to advance religious freedom.
9781442254657
2020739123
Religion and politics--History--United States--18th century.
Religion and state--History--United States--18th century.
Founding Fathers of the United States--Religious life.
Electronic Books.
BL2525 / .F686 2016