One of the drums that I have been beating for some decades now is the drum that seeks to make the somewhat percussive point that the Founding Fathers of our nation were not the collection of Deists—contrary to what we hear repeated over and over again ad nauseam.
This book, Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers, is a gem. In it Daniel Dreisbach carefully walks us through an abundant collection of evidence that demonstrates the thorough-going biblical literacy of the Founders. One of the reasons why many modern scholars miss this is that they themselves are not as attuned to the Scriptures as they ought to be. Driesbach notes this, right near the end of the book. “The failure to recognize Washington’s numerous biblical references perhaps indicates widespread biblical illiteracy among modern scholars” (p. 225).
Let me share just one tidbit with you. This was a passage I highlighted, with something like abandon, and then for good measure, I dog-eared it.
“As already noted, notwithstanding Enlightenment influences on intellectual elites, the founders cited the Bible more frequently in their political discourse than any other work. Indeed, in his survey of the political literature of the period, Donald S. Lutz found that the Bible ‘accounted for roughly one-third of the citations in the sample.’ The Apostle Paul, he reported, is referenced about as often as ‘Montesquieu and Blackstone, the two most-cited secular authors, and Deuteronomy is cited almost twice as often as all of Locke’s writings put together.’ According to Lutz, Deuteronomy alone ‘is the most frequently cited book’ in this literature”
Daniel Driesbach, Reading the Bible With the Founding Fathers, p. 66
If you are at all interested in America’s Christian history, as you really ought to be, this is a book that belongs on your shelf.