Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1039747 in Books
• Published on: 1995-08-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

From the Back Cover
John Eidsmoe rights the faulty historical record and correctly brings us back to the roots that made America great . . . clearly demonstrates that our constitutional liberties are a direct result of our founders' moral and religious convictions which were based on a belief in a God who created heaven and earth as well as on the fixed and unchanging absolutes of God's Word. Robert Skolrood, National Legal Foundation Legally accurate yet easy to understand . . . presents the truth about our founding fathers and their strong Christian roots that is missing from most textbooks and reference books written during the last fifty years. Every student of American history, ministers, and public speakers should read this book. . . . Tim LaHaye, Family Life Seminars Combines an interesting presentation with fine scholarship and a critical m message . . . should be read by anyone interested in the Constitution or Christianity. Wendell Bird, constitutional attorney Knowledge of our Christian heritage is an important weapon in the current fight for religious freedom in America. Eidsmoe has given us an entire arsenal of new and important evidence substantiating the Christian roots of our government. Mike Farris, Home School Legal Defense Association Balanced and lucid . . . clearly documents the pervasive Christian influence on the lives and thought of those who wrote our Constitution. I recommend it highly as a corrective to the almost totally secular portrayal of the Constitution found in so many textbooks today. Paul Vitz, author John Eidsmoe holds five degrees in law, theology, and political science. He currently serves as professor of constitutional law and related subjects at the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, Faulkner University, Montgomery, Alabama, where he received the Outstanding Professor Award in 1993. A constitutional attorney and lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, he has also taught church history and other subjects in various seminaries and has produced a twelve-part video series titled The Institute on the Constitution. His other books include The Christian Legal Advisor, God and Caesar, and Columbus and Cortez.

About the Author
John Eidsmoe holds five degrees in law, theology, and political science. He currently serves as professor of constitutional law and related subjects at the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, Faulkner University, Montgomery, Alabama, where he received the Outstanding Professor Award in 1993. A constitutional attorney and lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, he has also taught church history and other subjects in various seminaries and has produced a twelve-part video series titled The Institute on the Constitution. His other books include The Christian Legal Advisor, God and Caesar, and Columbus and Cortez.

Customer Reviews

A bit simplistic
John Eidsmoe's book is definately relevant to any inquiry into the relation between the Church and the Civil magistrate, particularly in regard to that relation at the founding of the constitution. The naive assumption that politics operate in an epistemic vaccum is, hopefully, washed away by Eidsmoe's presentation of general philosophical and religious precommitments of our nation's early politicians.

I believe Eidsmoe is a bit optomistic in regard to the orthodoxy of the faith of the constitutional founders, definately underplaying the Masonic influence on their views. Whatever their particular views, Christians should hardly claim them in defense of a thoroughly anti-christian covenantal document that established the *people* as the Sovereign of the nation. Vague references to God hardly establish a Christian nature to the document, though undoubtably, as Eidsmoe states, the structure itself can obviously be attributed to the Presbyterian model of government.

With that said, the book is, in the end, worth reading. Particularly the 22nd chapter, "Into the Third Century: Where does the US go from Here?" Eidsmoe, likely unintentionally, evidences the futility of a covenantal document that establishes human autonomy as Sovereign by it's thorough subjectivism. Eidsmoe demonstates this with a number of penal examples (what *exactly* is the normative referant for 'cruel and unusual' punishment today?)

After reading this book, I would highly recommend Gary North's "Political Polytheism" to supplement it with a little Biblical orthodoxy (keep in mind, Eidsmoe is a dispensationalist - *gag*)

Excellent
This book should be mandatory reading for Christians who have begun to explore the meaning of Christianity and its relation to the founding of our country. Accurate and balanced it sets the foot on the path to thinking about the meaning of faith and our country.

Historical Evidence of How Christianity Affected US Constttn
Dr Eidsmoe (also a retired USAF Lt. Colonel) provides a type of scholarship that have become (lamentably) rather rare these days. His authoritative book on Christianity's historic influence on America's political foundations (in general), and on specific features of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights (in particular), uses the rather unusual approach, namely: relying solely upon the primary documents that are the best evidence concerning his topic -- i.e., the actual writings of the founding fathers and of those who actually lived with them -- in effect, Dr Eidsmoe uses the kind of documentary exhibits and eye-witness testimony that would be admissible in a court of law, as opposed to the politically fashionable HEARSAY that all-too-often gets punted back and forth in textbook pulp nowadays. As a professor of American Political Foundations I routinely use his book as THE textbook for my courses; -- I also serve as a judge and have adjudicated several constitutional issues (including First Amendment issues) in reliance upon his impeccably accurate scholarship; -- I also serve as a political history lecturer (in Western Europe and in Central America) and have repeatedly cited Dr Eidsmoe's work as the "last word" on the historical matters he has analyzed in this valuable book. In addition to the historical summaries in his book, Dr Eidsmoe also provides very interesting mini-biographies on more than a dozen of America's most influential founding fathers. Lastly, Dr Eidsmoe's book provides appendices that are very helpful to readers who want to "read the original text" of key historic documents. This scholary-yet-easily-readable gem of accuracy-promoting research and user-friendly analysis should belong to every historian, lawyer, judge, patriot, and anyone else with a true interest in America's [real] legal history. ><> JJSJ