The University of Virginia Press is pleased to announce the publication 
of RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: Jefferson's Legacy, America's Creed (April 2013) 
by John Ragosta. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Emily K. Grandstaff
Marketing & Publicity Manager


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*

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*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

Contact: Emily K. Grandstaff

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"John Ragosta offers a robust defense of the Jeffersonian legacy of 
religious liberty, using his careful exploration of its history to help 
us understand contemporary debates about the proper roles of church and 
state in American life."

*---Joyce Appleby, UCLA, author of /The Relentless Revolution: A History 
of Capitalism/*

"For historians and legal scholars, Ragosta provides an important 
contribution to an ongoing discussion. . . . Excellent and meticulously 
done."

*---John Neem, Western Washington University*

*RELIGIOUS FREEDOM*

*_Jefferson's Legacy, America's Creed_*

For over one hundred years, Thomas Jefferson and his Statute for 
Establishing Religious Freedom have stood at the center of our 
understanding of religious liberty and the First Amendment. Jefferson's 
expansive vision---including his insistence that political freedom and 
free thought would be at risk if we did not keep government out of the 
church and church out of government---enjoyed a near consensus of 
support at the Supreme Court and among historians, until Justice 
Rehnquist called reliance on Jefferson "demonstrably incorrect." Since 
then, Rehnquist's call has been taken up by a bevy of jurists and 
academics anxious to encourage renewed government involvement with 
religion.

In *RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: JEFFERSON'S LEGACY, AMERICAN'S CREED (April 2013; 
UVA Press)*, historian and lawyer John Ragosta offers a vigorous defense 
of Jefferson's advocacy for a strict separation of church and state. 
Beginning with a close look at Jefferson's own religious evolution, 
Ragosta shows that deep religious beliefs were at the heart of 
Jefferson's views on religious freedom. Ultimately revealing that the 
great sage demanded a firm separation of church and state but never 
sought a wholly secular public square, Ragosta provides a new 
perspective on Jefferson, the First Amendment, and religious liberty 
within the United States.

*John Ragosta//*is Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Hamilton 
College.

*PUBLICATION DATE: April 2013*

312 pages 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

$39.50 cloth ISBN 978-0-8139-3370-2 | Ebook available


-- 
Emily K. Grandstaff
Marketing and Publicity Manager
University of Virginia Press
Box 400318
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4318

Telephone: 434-982-2932
Fax: 434-982-2655

Books: http://www.upress.virginia.edu
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