A Bible Civilization

A republic needs the Bible more than the Bible needs a republic

“From Christopher Columbus to the present day, the appropriation of universal scriptural values in American history has mingled constantly with its use for particular purposes, sometimes in keeping with those values, sometimes violating them with abandon. That mixed record must temper anything triumphalist Bible believers might say in its favor. Yet an honest assessment of the nation’s history, and at no time more than the present, should also recognize that a democratic republic needs something like the Bible more than Bible believers need a democratic republic.”

— Mark A. Noll, America’s Book: The Rise and Decline of a Bible Civilization, 1794-1911, quoted in Yisroel Ben-Porat’s review at Tradition.