[.ca] Christianity and the Constitution: The Faith of Our ... (ISBN 0801052319)

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 \oreal\c legal history. ><> JJSJ

A reasonable examination of Americaýs Christian roots:
«If the founding fathers were to see the hostile contempt with which modern thinkers treat Christianity, I believe they would consider it strange, offensive and self-destructive.» - John Eidsmoe. An «ordained minister of the Church of the Lutheran Brethren» who «holds five degrees in law, theology and political science» and «serves as a professor of constitutional law», John Eidsmoe is one of the most articulate and learned defenders of the conservative, Christian conception of the U.S. Constitution. In *Christianity and the Constitution*, published in 1987, he tries to correct the picture of America's founders, founding and foundational principles propagated by secular scholars whom he considers guilty of deliberately ignoring and suppressing the evidence of the crucial importance of Christianity in American history. The book is divided into three parts. Part I covers the ideological background of the creation of the US system of government, evaluating the respective influences of Calvinism, Puritanism, Deism, Freemasonry and science, and presenting the main ideas of the political thinkers who influenced the founders - Locke, Montesquieu, Blackstone, Grotius, Pufendorf, Vattel, and other defenders of the Natural Law tradition. Book II, representing about three fourths of the total volume of the book, examines the religious beliefs of thirteen major founders, as revealed in their lives and writings. Eidsmoe's selection - Witherspoon, Madison, Washington, Hamilton, Jay, Gouverneur Morris, the two Adamses, Patrick Henry, Roger Sherman and those two religiously unorthodox figures, Jefferson and Franklin- is unbiased, containing as it does six Federalists and seven Republicans, and «representing a geographic cross section of New England, Middle Atlantic and Southern States.» The author's cautious conclusion is that eight of these thirteen fouding fathers were «strongly Christian», three were «probably Christian» and two were «probably not Christian», though members of all three groups believed in a providential God who intervened in men's lives, in a future life of eternal rewards or punishment, and in the unsurpassed moral excellence of the teachings of Jesus. This second book must be praised for the fairness of its conclusions. Eidsmoe is not one of those religious conservatives who seeks to turn every American leader into some pious knight in shining armour. His conclusions are well-supported by the evidence he presents, and do not contradict anything I personally know of the Founders beyond the information he provides. Some of the quotes are particularly fascinating. For instance, John Adams's diaries reveal that in his early twenties he was troubled by the possible existence of intelligent extra-terrestrial beings and their place in God's plan of salvation : «\oE\cither God almighty must assume the respective shapes of all these different Species, and suffer the Penalties of their Crimes, or else all these Being\os\c must be consigned to everlasting Perdition ?» (p263.) Book III provides an overview of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, stresses the Biblical origins of several formulations and principles of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, and concludes with a series of considerations on the evolution of legal doctrine in the U.S., its possible future developments, and the role Christians should play in preserving original intent. Recognizing the importance of a general understanding of the principles of U.S. government, Eidsmoe directs his readers to the primary sources, such as *The Federalist* or Madison's journals of the Constitutional Convention, and the publications of such organizations as the National Center for Constitutional Studies, the Foundation for American Christian Education, American Vision and the Mayflower Institute. Even though I am no Protestant myself and consider literal Creationism (which Eidsmoe apparently endorses) simply aberrant, I found *Christianity and the Constitution* to be a sober, cogent and well-informed vindication of America's religious roots, written in a clear and lucid prose.

impressed by back-up documentation:
I am pleased that the author of this book approached it with intellect (not emotional ranting) and facts which he was able to back up time and time again. Nothing was taken out of context to prove a perceived biased point. As for the negative review from the gentleman in Texas, he should be embarrassed at his ignorant attempt to bash a book he obviously did not read (apparently he has also not read the Constitution)- not to mention his added ignorance of Jefferson's contribution (or lack there of) to the writing of the Constitution.

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.

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*)