Kevin R C Gutzman, JD, PhD
Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
Department of History
Western Connecticut State University
Author, JAMES MADISON AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA (cloth: St. Martin's Press, 2012; paper: St. Martin's Griffin, 2013)
www.KevinGutzman.com
________________________________________
From: Kevin Gutzman
Sent: Friday, March 29, 2013 6:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: [VA-HIST] UVA Press announces publication of RELIGIOUS FREEDOM by John Ragosta

In '' James Madison and the American Ideal of Religious Liberty,'' the introduction to the paperback edition of JAMES MADISON AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA (St. Martin's Press), I demonstrate that the emphasis on Jefferson in this connection is an error. After all, Jefferson failed to obtain the bill's passage, and it would have been a dead letter if not for Madison--who was also chief author of the religion clauses of both the Virginia Declaration off Rights and the U.S. Bill of Rights, which Jefferson had no role in drafting.

Kevin R C Gutzman, JD, PhD
Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
Department of History
Western Connecticut State University
Author, JAMES MADISON AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA (cloth: St. Martin's Press, 2012; paper: St. Martin's Griffin, 2013)
www.KevinGutzman.com
________________________________________
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Emily Grandstaff [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, March 29, 2013 3:46 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VA-HIST] UVA Press announces publication of RELIGIOUS FREEDOM by John Ragosta

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


*
*

**

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

Contact: Emily K. Grandstaff

[log in to unmask]

"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
Digital: http://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu
Facebook: http://facebook.com/uvapress
Twitter: http://twitter.com/uvapress


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