The Evangelical Origins of the Living Constitution by John Compton (Harvard Univ Press, 2014) argues for a revisionist view that nineteenth-century evangelical Protestants, not New Deal reformers, paved the way for the most important constitutional developments of the twentieth century. Says reviewer David Skeel: “A ‘living constitution’ is not tethered to the Founding Fathers’ intent or the literal text of the Constitution; it evolves through time, adjusting to changing circumstances. Here is a Chapman University political scientist insisting that evangelicals didn’t just support the living constitution in earlier generations. They helped to create it!”
