The Bible in American Law and Politics with John Vile

Open Stacks: A Podcast of the James E. Walker Library

On this episode, we are joined by professor of political science and dean of the University Honors College at Middle Tennessee State University John Vile. John earned his BA from the College of William and Mary and his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, both in government. He taught at McNeese State University where he headed the Department of Social Sciences before coming to MTSU where he served from 1989 to 2008 as Chair of the Department of Political Science and since 2008 as Dean of the University Honors College. Vile has written and edited more than 40 books dealing with the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, the U.S. Constitution, the constitutional amending process, historic American documents, and leading American symbols such as the U.S. Flag, the Liberty Bell, and the National Anthem (forthcoming). His most recent book is The Bible in American Law and Politics: A Reference Guide. Vile has a personal library of several thousand books and collects political memorabilia and American historical prints. His wife is an active volunteer at Murfreesboro’s Linebaugh Library.

Books, articles, authors. and media mentioned

• The Bible in American Law and Politics: A Reference Guide
• Deism
• The Jefferson Bible
• The Gospel in Brief by Leo Tolstoy
• Kanye West's Presidential Platform
• Jesus untangled: Crucifying Our Politics to Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb by Keith Giles
• The War Prayer by Mark Twain
• Primitive Baptist Universalist
• Bowling alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert Putnam

Music: "God Bless America" by Irving Berlin. This constitutes a fair use of any copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US copyright law.