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The Bible & the American Revolution
In “The Bible and the American Revolution,” episode #250, Meredith Curtis continues celebrating America’s 250 Birthday celebration with a look at the Bible’s influence on the Founding Fathers. Did the Bible really shape the culture of Colonial America & the American Revolution? Did the Founding Fathers read and understand the Scripture? What passages did they quote the most? Discover the role God’s Word played in our Founding Father’s lives and the documents they wrote. God bless the USA. 😊
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Show Notes
The Bible & me.
4 Sources of Influence on Founding Fathers & Documents
- British Common Law (Magna Charta, Blackstone)
- The Enlightenment (John Locke and Montesquieu)
- Classical and civic republicanism. (Cicero, etc)
- Bible (Old & New Testament)
George Washington identified the Bible among the significant contributions to the American experience.
There was broad agreement that the Bible was essential for nurturing the kind of civic virtues that give citizens the capacity for self-government. In various meetings, pamphlets, political sermons, and private papers, Founding Figures appealed to the Bible for principles, precedents, models, normative standards, and cultural motifs, to define their community and to order their great political experiments.
The Bible offered guidance on how to select righteous leaders and rights and responsibilities of citizenship, including the right to resist a tyrannical government.
Deuteronomy
“Donald Lutz author of American Political Science Review, wanted to know who it was that Founding Fathers were citing in political literature before and during the American Revolution. He discovered that the Bible was cited more frequently than any European writer or European school of thought, such as Enlightenment liberalism. The Bible, Lutz reported, accounted for approximately one-third of the citations in the literature he surveyed. The book of Deuteronomy alone was the most frequently cited work, followed by Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws. In fact, Deuteronomy was referenced nearly twice as often as John Locke’s writings, and the apostle Paul was mentioned about as frequently as Montesquieu and Blackstone, who would have been the two most-cited secular theorists.” (Daniel Dreisbach, “The Bible and the American Founders”, Broadcast Talks, August 1, 2018; Accessed 3/1/26)
Deuteronomy – God’s dealings with His chosen nation, Israel, – establishing the political and legal institutions necessary to govern a nation. The Founding Fathers saw Deuteronomy as a guide on how to put a nation together.
The Founding Fathers could identify with the children of Israel fleeing from Pharaoh. They were fleeing form George III. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean was like crossing the Red Sea.
Quoted & Referenced familiar and obscure passages from Scripture. Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty.”
If a family owned a single book it was almost certainly going to be the Bible. So, this was the one book that Americans would be most familiar with. If they owned two….
Popular Texts
- Duties of civil authority and the duties of citizenship such as Romans 13 or 1 Peter 2:13–15.
- Passages dealing with liberty and liberation. Exodus, Galatians 5:1
- Old Testament texts dealing with the idea of covenant
- Texts that describe character, characteristics, blessings of a righteous ruler.
- Proverbs 29:2
- Exodus 18:21
- 2 Samuel 23
How Founders Used Scripture
- Literary and rhetorical to the profoundly theological.
- Enriched language and culture distinctively biblical allusions, phrases, figures of speech, proverbs, aphorisms, and the like.
- Gave credibility to assertions
- Identify and define standards and rules for public life.
- Uncover God’s oversight of the world and dealings with men and nations.
The Bible Influenced the Founding Texts
- Judeo-Christian concept of covenant is where we get our ideas of compact, contract, and constitutionalism. Quoted passages like Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28
- Biblical view of original sin Genesis 3 – designed a constitutional system to check & prevent abuse of power
- Depravity of man – limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, rule of law, due process of law and representative government
- That phrase future state of rewards and punishmentsshows up in state constitution after constitution in the founding era. (heaven & hell)
- Hebrew commonwealth described in the Old Testament a model for republican government
- Ten Commandments of Due Process – Exodus 23:1-9
- That flows out of a relationship with Jesus Christ
- The Constitution – Division of Power and Authority reflects the nature of God as Judge, King, and Lawgiver. No one person can have that much authority and power (due to original sin & the flesh) So we divide up the power between Supreme Court, Congress, and President.
- Free Will & Free Speech
- Mankind image of God; life is sacred.
Where are We Now & What Can We Do?
Culture. Education System. Corruption. Fraud. Bribery.
Read & Study the Word, Bible-Believing Church, Pray for Revival in USA, Talk & Post about our Christian Heritage
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