The Bible in Early America: Colonies, Empire, Revival, War
Mark Noll
University of Notre Dame
Date: October 29, 2015
Abstract
The Bible is by far the single most widely read text, distributed object, and referenced book in all of American history.听 This talk draws on Noll鈥檚 recently published book,听In the Beginning Was the Word,听to explore the presence of Scripture from the era of Christopher Columbus through the American Revolution. As guidance for the first American colonies, a polemical prop for the expanding British Empire, the source of personal empowerment during periods of revival, and then a much-bandied rhetorical weapon during the struggle for American Independence, the Bible remained ubiquitous in American consciousness. The lecture ends by suggesting legacies鈥攆or good and for ill鈥攆rom this early history.
Speaker Bio
Mark A. Noll听is the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, where he has taught since 2006. Before coming to Notre Dame he was for nearly thirty years a member of the history faculty at Wheaton College (Illinois). Noll鈥檚 main academic interests are the interaction of Christianity and culture in 18th- and 19th-century Anglo-American societies, although he has also published books, articles and reviews on American evangelical history and the recent world history of Christianity. Professor Noll has been the recipient of three year-long fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities; in 2004 he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; in 2005 he was included in听TIME Magazine鈥檚 survey of the twenty-five most influential evangelicals in the US; and in 2006 he received the National Humanities Medal at a White House ceremony. He is the author of numerous books, including听America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln听(OUP 2002),听Protestantism: A Very Short Introduction听(OUP 2011) and听In the Beginning was the Word: The Bible in American Public Life, 1492-1783听(OUP 2015).听
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Event Photos
Professor of History and scholar of Christianity in American public life Mark A. Noll speaks at a Boisi Center event on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015.
Photos by MTS photography
Event Recap
Mark Noll, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, spoke at 涩里番下载 on October 29 about the Bible鈥檚 role in public life in the American colonies. Noll drew on his new book,听In the听Beginning Was the Word, which explores the historical trajectory of the Bible鈥檚 political uses and cultural place in American civil society.
Noll鈥檚 book demonstrates how the use of the Bible in America guided the development of politics and government. While Noll acknowledged the Catholic introduction of the Bible in the Americas, he said that Protestant readings of the Bible deeply informed the emerging American identity.
Noll spoke about the importance of the Protestant Reformation in Europe to the colonial American experience. The British understanding of imperial Christendom, gave way to a message of personal Christianity in America that undermined the concept of Christendom.
Also significant to the development of American public identity, Noll explained, was the adoption of the Bible by the African-American slave community. Slave owners continued to invoke sections of the Bible that appeared to permit slavery, even after their slaves became Christians and found evidence in the Bible opposing slavery. This demonstrates how personal interpretations of scripture put Christians in opposition with one another.
Biblical authority was seen as coming from scripture itself, not through the medium of governmental authority. This difference in Biblical interpretation, Noll showed, was not an isolated incident in American social, political and economic contexts. This tradition of using the Bible as partisan weaponry, Noll claimed, is still alive today.
Read More
Books
Howe, Daniel Walker.听.听(Oxford University Press, 2007).
Marsden, George M.听.听(Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990).
Marsden, George M.听.听(Oxford University Press, 2006).
McGrath,听Alister.听.(Anchor Books, 2002).
Noll, Mark.听.听(Harper & Row, 1986).
Noll, Mark.听.听(Eerdmans, 1994).
Noll, Mark.听.听(Baker Academic, 1997).
Noll, Mark.听.听(Eerdmans, 2002).
Noll, Mark.听.听(Oxford University Press, 2007).
Noll, Mark.听.听(Oxford University Press, 2015).
Pelikan, Jarosalv.听.听(Penguin Books, 2006).
Walls, Andrew F.听.听(Orbis Books, 1996).
In the News
The Bible continues to be used as a rhetorical weapon in the hands of American politicians as evinced by Bobby Jindal's听听on Donald Trump's religious commitment. In his new book,听In the Beginning Was the Word鈥�the first part of a multi-volume set鈥�Mark Noll听traces the history of the Bible in America up to the present day, and explores the historical narrative that has led to its place in the modern context.