Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
This book examines the "constitutional faith" that has, since 1788, been a central component of American "civil religion." By taking seriously the parallel between wholehearted acceptance of the Constitution and religious faith, Sanford Levinson opens up a host of intriguing questions about what it means to be American. While some view the Constitution as the central component of an American religion that serves to unite the social order, Levinson maintains that its sacred role can result in conflict, fragmentation, and even war. To Levinson, the Constitution's value lies in the realm of the discourse it sustains: a uniquely American form of political rhetoric that allows citizens to grapple with every important public issue imaginable.
In a new afterword, Levinson looks at the deepening of constitutional worship and attributes the current widespread frustrations with the government to the static nature of the Constitution.
This book examines the special relationship in the American mind for the US Constitution and what it means for us.
Editorials
The Nation
The signal virtue of these fascinating travels through the metaphoric and historical life of the secular worship of the Constitution is the challenge . . . to work out the terms of one's own constitutional faith.— Michael Meltsner
The Philadelphia Inquirer
[Levinson] brilliantly transposes his concern from the overfamiliar problem of how judges should decide cases and how they can be restrained from becoming tyrants to the question of what it means to adhere to a constitution. . . . [The book] is rich and pleasingly conversational.— Thomas Morawetz
The New Republic
Sanford Levinson is a man of the left who takes patriotism seriously. In Constitutional Faith, he offers a timely meditation on exactly what, if anything, America can stand for.— Stephen Macedo
Philadelphia Inquirer
[R]ich and pleasingly controversial.— Thomas Morawetz