I am not an expert in history at all. Surely there are going to be some biased interpretations in this book; we are smart and we can discount accordingly.
I agree that original intent is ultimately a dead end, and I was previously even sympathetic to some Barton-type arguments. My prior for the U.S. Congress being more religion-friendly in the past was high, simply because religiosity in the past was so high. Before reading some of this book I simply would have said, “So what?” to the historical arguments of Barton and the like.
If you flip through the book, however, you’ll see it has at least some value. Much of it is reminiscent of the Talk Origins Quote Mine Project, in which quotes are restored to their proper context, scurrilous ellipses removed, and shown to often have the exact opposite meaning as some historians claim. I can see how this sort of work can go bad, but more information is better regardless.
Also: Hey, free book. Why not share it? Get some opinions and discussion? Especially if there are any people with more historical knowledge than I on this forum.
No book is free, because all books cost time. Why is this one worth mine? Its hectoring tone and its obsessing over the minutiae of just how interested the Congress of the late 18th century was or was not in remedying a shortage of bibles do not give me any reason to do more than glance at the first chapter. So, someone I don’t care about is being wrong somewhere and someone else I don’t care about has written a book to correct them. LW relevance?
I am not an expert in history at all. Surely there are going to be some biased interpretations in this book; we are smart and we can discount accordingly.
I agree that original intent is ultimately a dead end, and I was previously even sympathetic to some Barton-type arguments. My prior for the U.S. Congress being more religion-friendly in the past was high, simply because religiosity in the past was so high. Before reading some of this book I simply would have said, “So what?” to the historical arguments of Barton and the like.
If you flip through the book, however, you’ll see it has at least some value. Much of it is reminiscent of the Talk Origins Quote Mine Project, in which quotes are restored to their proper context, scurrilous ellipses removed, and shown to often have the exact opposite meaning as some historians claim. I can see how this sort of work can go bad, but more information is better regardless.
Also: Hey, free book. Why not share it? Get some opinions and discussion? Especially if there are any people with more historical knowledge than I on this forum.
No book is free, because all books cost time. Why is this one worth mine? Its hectoring tone and its obsessing over the minutiae of just how interested the Congress of the late 18th century was or was not in remedying a shortage of bibles do not give me any reason to do more than glance at the first chapter. So, someone I don’t care about is being wrong somewhere and someone else I don’t care about has written a book to correct them. LW relevance?