The Bible in the Political Culture of the American Founding

FAIN: FEJ-309492-25

Daniel L. Dreisbach
American University (Washington, DC 20016-8200)

Research and writing towards a book on the place of the Bible in the political thought of the American founders.

The Bible is an important, yet understudied, source of influence on the American founders that must be studied alongside other intellectual influences, such as British constitutionalism, Enlightenment liberalism, and classical and civic republicanism, if one wants to understand the broad range of ideas that informed the founding generation's political thought and practice. This grant will be used to research and write several chapters that will be added to a revised and expanded edition of my book, Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers (Oxford University Press). The chapters will explore biblical influences on the founders' views of human nature and on the American constitutional tradition and the diverse uses of the Bible in the political rhetoric of the founding era.