The Grand Collaboration - (Religious Freedom and Public Dialogue: A Robert Nusbaum Center) by Steven K Green

About the Book

"In this dual biography of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, constitutional law scholar Steven K. Green demonstrates how their commitment to advancing religious freedom arose chiefly out of larger secular commitments and placed them on the cutting edge of views on church-state separation. In addition, Green explains how their differences regarding freedom of conscience and religious freedom were minimal and not at all contradictory, as others have argued. Nor were their achievements foregone conclusions-indeed, they frequently worked against considerable odds-and they never saw their work as completed"--

Book Synopsis

How Jefferson and Madison ensured religious freedom in the United States

Thomas Jefferson considered the establishment of religious freedom as a governing principle in the United States to be one of the great accomplishments of his life. It was not his accomplishment alone, however, but the result of sustained cooperation with the "father of the Constitution," James Madison. The Grand Collaboration is the first comprehensive study of Jefferson and Madison's mutual endeavor to ensure free inquiry, freedom of conscience, and the separation of church and state, examining their fifty-year partnership beginning with the Virginia Declaration of Rights and culminating with the founding of the University of Virginia as the nation's first truly secular institution of higher education. In an era of increasing concern with the "original intentions" of the founding generation, Steven Green, one of our great authorities on the concept and history of religious freedom, represents the best possible guide to these complex, critical issues--issues that continue to confront our society in the twenty-first century.

About the Author

Steven K. Green is the Fred H. Paulus Professor of Law and Affiliated Professor of History and Religious Studies at Willamette University and the author of Separating Church and State: A History.