To a creator, a supreme judge, or Divine Providence. He also highlights the importance of the great awaken awakening, a protestant religious revival in the 1740s, that influenced many founding fathers. This class took place at Georgetown University and is an hour and 45 minutes. It was organized by the j madison memorial fellowship foundation. Good morning, everyone. Arent you a smartlooking set this morning. The topic today is religion and the American Revolution. You recall from our last session together, i laid out what i think are some headwaters of early american constitutionalism. Thats what i was calling them. So we looked at classical republicanism, primarily roman, grecoroman, but primarily roman. We looked at enlightenment liberalism, primarily british, which included the common law tradition and some older things. Then i mentioned protestant christianity as the third of those headwaters that i believe feeds into early american constitutionalism. And we deferred that to today
Republicanism. Roman, grecoroman, but primarily roman. Enlightened liberalism, primarily british, which included the common law tradition and some older things and i mentioned protestant christianity of the third of the headwaters i believe feeds into early american constitutionalism, and we defer that to today. Thats where we are today. You recall this image of the Missouri River and its headwaters. Great rivers main streams have head waters that flow into them and are at some point indistinguishable from one another and the river. These are the headwaters of the Missouri River, the gallitan, the madison, and the jefferson rivers, discovered by lewis and clark. And in a graphic way i just tried simply to illustrate those three headwaters. Classical republicanism to the left there. Enlightenment liberalism. And protestant christianity. Thats where we are, looking at protestant christianity. This is a representation of one of those camp meetings during the first great awakening of the s
Every weekend on cspan3. Follow us on twitter at cspan history for information on our schedule, and to keep up with the latest history news. For the newck live museum of the bible in washington dc washington, d. C. , for symposium on bible and founding of america. Professor james byrd talks about the bible and the American Revolution. You are watching American History tv on cspan3. Hello everyone and welcome back. Moment to silence your cell phones as you return to your tables. Our Third Session today is the bible and the American Revolution with james byrd. This is based on his latest book and shows the bible was the key text of the American Revolution. When war came to the colonies, preachers and patriots turn to the bible for solace annexed rotations to fight. Scripture helped amateur soldiers stop their natural aversion to killing. A sense of thens Divine Providence of their cause. , the doctor will examine specific biblical texts and how they were used, especially in making the pa
Solace but for exhortations to fight. Such scripture helped amateur soldiers overcome their natural aversion to killing, conferred on those who died for the revolution the halo of martyrdom and he gave americans a sense of the Divine Providence of their calls. In this session dr. Byrd will examine specific biblical texts aened how they were umaking the patriotic case for war. James byrd is associate professor of american religious history at vanderbilt university. His latest book is sacred scripture, sacred war. Hes currently working on a book on the bible and the american civil war. Please join me in welcoming dr. Byrd. [ applause ] well, thank you, im so pleased to be here and to be joining in this important conversation at the museum of the bible. Im very honored to be sharing the podium with the two scholars ive admired for years and i especially thank the team here at the museum of the bible rm, all of you for putting this together. Im just very honored to be participating. My foc
Peter and paul still say that the king is the minister to all, the minister of god, a revenger on those who do evil. So the message some of these loyalists said was, obey all rulers, even the bad ones. Respect authority because god put them in authority for a reason. So what you call patriotism is really just ambition. Its selfishness in disguise. And all patriotic revolts do is create more violence. Now what about the patriotic argument . What are the patriots going to do with texts like fear god and honor the king . What are the patriots going to do with texts that say that the Civil Authority are the revengers of god on wrongdoers, obey them just as if youre obeying god . What can you do with that . Is there anywhere you can go with that . Well, of course. Lets see. Jonathan mayhew, long before the revolution, concerning unlimited submission. That title is really helpful. And people like john adams cousins use this text and many, many others. And lets thing about their argument. The