PADM 475 DB1
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Liberty University *
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475
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Philosophy
Date
Dec 6, 2023
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docx
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Uploaded by ChancellorDangerAnt41
Charles,
The last few years in the American experiment
has taught us that the character of those to
which we give the privilege of high office matters just as much than the structure and function of
the government itself (Pickens, 2019). It has been a concrete display of what happens when
people who believe government do not work in their interests are chosen to lead it.
The will of the
people in our country has taken a back seat to narrow political interests. Our collective way
forward depends on us finding a renewed understanding of our American identity, not based in
partisan ideology, but rather as citizens with a shared responsibility to act as beneficiaries and
guardians of this nearly two and a half century-old experiment (Gavin, 2022). We need leaders
who are willing to set their personal ambitions aside, protect our democracy, and work on behalf
of the people who elect them.
God does ordain those who have been placed into leadership (Christian Standard Bible, 2020,
Romans 13:1), but He also has given us the free will that let’s our sinful nature both elect and
serve our sinful desires. The prophet Jeremiah testifies to the depravity of Israel and it may apply
to us today. “
They have become fat
and sleek. They have also excelled in evil matters.
They have not taken up cases, such as the case of the fatherless, so they might prosper,
and they have not defended the rights of the needy” (Christian Standard Bible, 2020, Jeremiah
5:28).
Blessings!
WORD COUNT 251
References
Christian Standard Bible. (2020). Nashville: B&H Publishing Group. (Original work published
2017).
Gavin, Tim. (2022).
The Case for Servant Leaders in Elected Office
. CT Mirror.
https://ctmirror.org/2022/07/18/the-case-for-servant-leaders-in-elected-office/
, accessed
August 24, 2023.
Pickens, Rusty. (2019).
The Critical Need for Servant Leadership at the Heart of Government
.
Medium.
https://rpickens.medium.com/the-critical-need-for-servant-leadership-at-the-
heart-of-government-2456621c6139
, accessed August 24, 2023.
Andrew,
Thanks for your post and the explanation on the role of the prophets. The Prophets were
covenant enforcement mediators. God does not merely give his law, but enforces it. God
announced the enforcement of his laws through the prophets, so that the event of his blessing or
of his curse would be fully understood by his people. They functioned as God’s mediators, or
spokespersons, for the covenant. The blessings for covenant faithfulness fall into one of the
following six categories: life, health, prosperity, agricultural abundance, respect and safety. The
curses can mostly fit into one of ten categories starting with ”d”: death, disease, drought, dearth,
danger, destruction, defeat, deportation, destitution, and disgrace (Redeemer, 2010).
It is beneficial to note that the Hebrew concept of majority rule comes from the Torah’s
command to “follow the multitude” (Christian Standard Bible, 2020, Exodus 23:2). The majority
decided disputes among scholars on the meaning of God’s laws, the court decisions of judges,
and the local acts of Jewish communities. A tradition of free speech existed among the Hebrews.
Hebrew prophets openly spoke out against their kings and the people for failing to follow the
Torah. Nobody was tried for heresy against the laws of God during the long history of disputes
over the meaning of the Torah. Also, while the majority decided matters of law, the minority had
a chance to be heard and their opinions were often recorded.
Blessings!
WORD COUNT 235
Christian Standard Bible
. (2020). Nashville: B&H Publishing Group. (Original work published
2017).
Redeemer Church. (2010).
The Prophets: Enforcing Covenant in Israel
.
https://redeemernw.org/blog/learners/a-way-to-read-the-bible/the-prophets-enforcing-
covenant-in-israel-part-11
, accessed August 25, 2023.
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An often overlooked or discounted source of influence in the founding of America is the Bible.
Its expansive influence on the political culture of the time should not surprise us because the
population was overwhelming Protestant, and it influences significant aspects of public culture,
including language, letters, education, and law (Dreisbach, 2016). No book at the time was more
accessible or familiar than the English Bible, specifically the King James Bible.
The discourse of the era amply documents the founders’ many quotations from and allusions
to both familiar and obscure biblical texts, confirming that they knew the Bible from cover to
cover. Biblical language and themes liberally seasoned their rhetoric. The phrases and cadences
of the King James Bible influenced their written and spoken words. Its ideas shaped their habits
of mind and informed their political experiment in republican self-government. The Bible left its
mark on their political culture.
The Bible was cited more frequently than any European writer or even any European school
of thought, such as Enlightenment liberalism or republicanism (Dreisbach, 2016).
Many in the
founding generation regarded the Bible as indispensable to their political experiment in self-
government. They valued the Bible not only for its rich literary qualities but also for its insights
into human nature, civic virtue, social order, political authority and other concepts essential to
the establishment of a political society. The Bible provided instruction on the characteristics of a
righteous civil magistrate, conceptions of liberty, and the rights and responsibilities of citizens,
including the right of resistance to tyrannical rule.
There was broad agreement that the Bible was essential for nurturing the civic virtues that
give citizens the capacity for self-government. Many founders also saw in the Bible political and
legal models–such as republicanism, separation of powers, federalism, and due process of law–
they believed enjoyed divine favor and were worthy of emulation in their polities.
Declaration of Independence by John Trumball. Public Domain via
Wikimedia
Commons
.
The political discourse of the founding, for one example, is replete with appeals to the
Hebrew “republic” as a model for their own political experiment. In an influential
1775 Massachusetts election sermon, Samuel Langdon, the president of Harvard
College and later a delegate to New Hampshire’s constitution ratifying convention,
opined: “The Jewish government, according to the original constitution which was
divinely established, … was a perfect Republic … The civil Polity of Israel is
doubtless an excellent general model …; at least some principal laws and orders of it
may be copied, to great advantage, in more modern establishments.” Most of what the
founders knew about the Hebraic republic they learned from the Bible. These
Americans were well aware that ideas like republicanism found expression in
traditions apart from the Hebrew model, and, indeed, they studied these traditions
both ancient and modern. The republican model found in the Hebrew Scriptures,
however, reassured pious Americans that republicanism was a political system favored
by God.
Focusing on the Bible’s impact on the political culture of the founding is not intended
to discount, much less dismiss, other sources of influence that informed the American
political experiment. Rather, I contend that casting a light on the often ignored place
of the Bible in late eighteenth-century political thought enriches one’s understanding
of the ideas that contributed to the founding project.
Does it matter whether the Bible is studied alongside other intellectual influences on
the founding? Yes, because biblical language, themes, and principles pervaded
eighteenth-century political thought and action. Accordingly, an awareness of the
Bible’s contributions to the founding project increases knowledge of the founders’
political experiment and their systems of civil government and law. A study of how
the founding generation read and used the Bible helps Americans understand
themselves, their history, and their regime of republican self-government and liberty
under law.
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