Religion, federalism, and the struggle for public life

the long version

Author William Everett examines the role of religious traditions in the development of modern federal republicanism, seeking answers to such questions as: How have patterns of religious organization shaped federal republican orders? How do different cultures weave together these political and religious threads into a living fabric that fits their own cultural heritage? How are Western religious traditions of covenant and conciliarism relevant for understanding religion and constitutional developments in non-Western cultures? The author argues that a better comparative grasp of these dynamics is essential to our understanding of the establishment, sustenance, and development of federal republican governance. He presents, as a first step toward this goal, a detailed and comparative study of these patterns in India, Germany, and the United States.