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Law Review: Biblical Literalism and Constitutional Originalism

By Alliance Alert

Peter J. Smith and Robert W. Tuttle, Biblical Literalism and Constitutional Originalism (March 1, 2010). GWU Legal Studies Research Paper. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1561933 "It is not surprising that both critics of constitutional originalism and proponents of biblical literalism have noted a connection between the two interpretive approaches, as there are some obvious similarities. Indeed, the similarities go beyond the caricatures that both critics and proponents have tended to offer. Literalism and originalism share a core commitment to the idea that their relevant texts have a timeless, fixed meaning that is readily ascertainable. In addition, both interpretive approaches are in significant part projects of restoration; both are deeply concerned about the loss of constraint that results from interpretation that is untethered to text; both have a strong, self-consciously populist impulse and an equally strong and self-conscious disdain for elite opinion, both with respect to interpretive norms and cultural values; and both maintain that all other approaches to their relevant texts are fundamentally illegitimate because they breach a duty of fidelity."

Full post as published by Constitutionally Correct on March 08, 2010 (boomark / email).