In the Beginning Was the Word: The Bible in American Public Life, 1492–1783
by mark a. noll
oxford, 448 pages, $29.95
B
iblical images, idioms, and verses are everywhere in early American historical sources, so much so that historians have often treated the Bible, in Mark Noll’s words, as “wallpaper, simply a backdrop for more important objects of attention.” It’s hard to get a handle on something so pervasive. Noll’s careful scholarship, deep knowledge of the time, and intimate familiarity with Scripture fit him uniquely to take up this challenge.
Noll traces the use of the Bible in American public life from the Puritans’ roots in the Reformation through the Revolution. His survey’s central theme is the relationship between the ideals of Christendom—an organic unity of government, church, and society—and of “biblicism,” a term he uses to convey the commitment to follow “the Bible alone” in structuring all aspects of life and faith.
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