2015/12/01 by Mark A. Noll · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Educational Leadership and Practices #Oral History, Memory, Narrative Analysis #American Sports and Literature #Word (group theory) #Linguistics #History #Philosophy
paper · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190263980.001.0001
openalex publication_date 2015/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
It is no exaggeration to claim that the Bible has been — and by far — the single most widely read text, distributed object, and referenced or cited book in all of American history. For countless Americans, Scripture has opened a doorway to the personal experience of God. The Bible has also functioned as a guide to life, sometimes with liberating or comic effects and sometimes with oppressive or tragic results. This book provides a survey of the relationship between the Bible and public issues from the beginning of European settlement through the American Revolution. It focuses throughout on how people negotiated between the Bible and other social authorities, such as ecclesiastical tradition, national and imperial politics, and economic mandates. This book argues that American Christians inherited an ideal of Christendom that often overshadowed the Christian scriptures as a moral authority; this book helps to explain how Americans recovered the Bible as they jettisoned notions of Christendom.