Stanley Fish

The Godless Constitution and the Providential Republic

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“Here is Steven D. Smith’s interim (one hopes) report on his career-long inquiry into the relationship between secular rationality and providentialism—the idea that we are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a supreme being. In a brisk, witty and yet learned style, Smith demonstrates how difficult and unrewarding it is to erase the vision and hope of a United States marching under God’s banner.”