Church and State in the Early Republic: The Covenanters' Radical Critique
Constitutional scholars pay particular attention to the historical context of the First Amendment, to the relationship between the state and religion in the early republic. Missing from this academic examination of church-state history, however, is any serious consideration of the views of the Refor...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
2009
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| In: |
Journal of law and religion
Year: 2009, Volume: 25, Issue: 2, Pages: 487-501 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Constitutional scholars pay particular attention to the historical context of the First Amendment, to the relationship between the state and religion in the early republic. Missing from this academic examination of church-state history, however, is any serious consideration of the views of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, popularly known as the Covenanters, views that challenged the fundamental presuppositions of the United States Constitution, both as established in the early national period and as applied today. A typical modern American, citizen or scholar, cannot help but be startled by a coherent, closely reasoned body of doctrine that trenchantly criticizes such fundamental American assumptions as government by consent of the governed or the free exercise of religion. Covenanter criticism of the church-state relations not only presents a model of church and state radically different from today's conventional American theories, but also throws light on the American paradigm as it existed during its developmental period. Reformed Presbyterians of the early republic criticized the federal Constitution from a world view so radically different from that of the founders that their criticisms highlight aspects of the generally accepted constitutional regime in ways that conventional constitutional scholars have scarcely considered. |
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| ISSN: | 2163-3088 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of law and religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0748081400001223 |