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Oxford University Press, USA
Bible, the School, and the Constitution: The Clash That Shaped Modern Church-State Doctrine
Bible, the School, and the Constitution: The Clash That Shaped Modern Church-State Doctrine
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Few constitutional issues have been as contentious in modern times as those concerning school prayer and the public funding of religious schools. But as Steven K. Green reveals in The Bible, the School, and the Constitution, this debate actually reached its apogee just after the Civil War,
between 1863 and 1876. Green shows that controversy over Bible reading in public schools, commonly called the School Question, captured national attention to an unprecedented degree. Public education during the nineteenth century faced many competing pressures, including a widespread belief that schooling required a moral if not religious basis, a belief among many Protestants that Catholic immigration presented a threat to Protestant culture and to republican values, the need
to accommodate increasing religious pluralism in the schools, and evolving understandings of constitutional principles. The School Question provided Americans with the opportunity to address and articulate these pressures, and to engage in a grand-and sometimes not so grand-public debate over the
meaning of separation of church and state. Green demonstrates that the modern Supreme Court's decisions on school funding and Bible reading did not create new legal doctrines or abolish dominant practices, but built on legal concepts and educational trends that had been developing since the early
nineteenth century. He also shows that while public reaction to a growing Catholic presence was a leading factor in this development, it was but one element in the rise of the legal doctrines the high court would embrace in the mid-twentieth century. Rarely in the nation's history have people from such various walks of life-Protestants and Catholics, skeptics and theocrats, nativists and immigrants, educators and politicians-been able to participate in a national discussion over the meaning of a constitutional principle. The debates of this
period laid the foundation for constitutional arguments that still rage today.
Author: Steven K. Green
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 02/01/2012
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.17lbs
Size: 9.51h x 6.40w x 0.98d
ISBN: 9780199827909
Award: Oregon Book Awards - Finalist
Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 01/09/2012 pg. 49
Christianity Today 02/01/2012 pg. 49
Choice 08/01/2012
between 1863 and 1876. Green shows that controversy over Bible reading in public schools, commonly called the School Question, captured national attention to an unprecedented degree. Public education during the nineteenth century faced many competing pressures, including a widespread belief that schooling required a moral if not religious basis, a belief among many Protestants that Catholic immigration presented a threat to Protestant culture and to republican values, the need
to accommodate increasing religious pluralism in the schools, and evolving understandings of constitutional principles. The School Question provided Americans with the opportunity to address and articulate these pressures, and to engage in a grand-and sometimes not so grand-public debate over the
meaning of separation of church and state. Green demonstrates that the modern Supreme Court's decisions on school funding and Bible reading did not create new legal doctrines or abolish dominant practices, but built on legal concepts and educational trends that had been developing since the early
nineteenth century. He also shows that while public reaction to a growing Catholic presence was a leading factor in this development, it was but one element in the rise of the legal doctrines the high court would embrace in the mid-twentieth century. Rarely in the nation's history have people from such various walks of life-Protestants and Catholics, skeptics and theocrats, nativists and immigrants, educators and politicians-been able to participate in a national discussion over the meaning of a constitutional principle. The debates of this
period laid the foundation for constitutional arguments that still rage today.
Author: Steven K. Green
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 02/01/2012
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.17lbs
Size: 9.51h x 6.40w x 0.98d
ISBN: 9780199827909
Award: Oregon Book Awards - Finalist
Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 01/09/2012 pg. 49
Christianity Today 02/01/2012 pg. 49
Choice 08/01/2012
About the Author
Steven K. Green is Frank H. Paulus Professor of Law and Adjunct Professor of History at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, where he directs the interdisciplinary Center for Religion, Law and Democracy.
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