| Interpreting the Bible & the Constitution Contributor(s): Pelikan, Jaroslav Jan (Author) |
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ISBN: 0300102674 ISBN-13: 9780300102673 Publisher: Yale University Press OUR PRICE: $72.27 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: April 2004 Annotation: Both the Bible and the Constitution have the status of "Great Code," but each of these important texts is controversial as well as enigmatic. They are asked to speak to situations that their authors could not have anticipated on their own. In this book, one of our greatest religious historians brings his vast knowledge of the history of biblical interpretation to bear on the question of constitutional interpretation. Jaroslav Pelikan compares the methods by which the official interpreters of the Bible and the Constitution--the Christian Church and the Supreme Court, respectively--have approached the necessity of interpreting, and reinterpreting, their important texts. In spite of obvious differences, both texts require close, word-by-word exegesis, an awareness of opinions that have gone before, and a willingness to ask new questions of old codes, Pelikan observes. He probes for answers to the question of what makes something authentically "constitutional" or "biblical," and he demonstrates how an understanding of either biblical interpretation or constitutional interpretation can illuminate the other in important ways. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Law | Constitutional - Religion | Biblical Criticism & Interpretation - General - Social Science | Anthropology - Cultural & Social |
| Dewey: 220.601 |
| LCCN: 2003023274 |
| Series: John W. Kluge Center Books |
| Physical Information: 0.82" H x 5.78" W x 8.54" (0.86 lbs) 216 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Both the Bible and the Constitution have the status of "Great Code," but each of these important texts is controversial as well as enigmatic. They are asked to speak to situations that their authors could not have anticipated on their own. In this book, one of our greatest religious historians brings his vast knowledge of the history of biblical interpretation to bear on the question of constitutional interpretation. Jaroslav Pelikan compares the methods by which the official interpreters of the Bible and the Constitution--the Christian Church and the Supreme Court, respectively--have approached the necessity of interpreting, and reinterpreting, their important texts. In spite of obvious differences, both texts require close, word-by-word exegesis, an awareness of opinions that have gone before, and a willingness to ask new questions of old codes, Pelikan observes. He probes for answers to the question of what makes something authentically "constitutional" or "biblical," and he demonstrates how an understanding of either biblical interpretation or constitutional interpretation can illuminate the other in important ways. |
