The introduction of Self Evident Truth says, "This is
a book about the self evident truth contained in the Bible, the
Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution
and how that self evident truth gave birth to individual liberty
in the United States of America." The introduction also gives an
overview of each of these three written documents and the implications
for Americans in light of our freedom and the American Dream.
Mr. Gordon proposes ten self-evident truths that are given in
all three of the above-mentioned written works. Some of the author's
main points are that God gives us liberty, government's sole purpose
is to protect this liberty, and the hierarchy of government should
be that of God over man and man over government.
The author is very concerned about the state of America. He notes
that "the loss of liberty that we have experienced during the last
four years has been nothing short of horrific. We the people ignorantly
elected representatives to the central government who openly despise
the American Dream. They openly demonstrate nothing but contempt
for those of us who revere the American Dream. They have declared
the American Dream to be obsolete and have declared war on that
dream, hoping to utterly destroy it. We have never lived through
a time in all of American history where the American Dream was
in as much danger of dying as we are today."
There are sections on the Bible, "A Puritan Catechism" (revised)
with proofs by C. H. Spurgeon, and an introduction to The Declaration
of Independence (including an excerpt from a speech by Calvin Coolidge
given on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration). The latter
is followed by a line-by-line study guide that explains and interprets
the meaning of each line of the Declaration. Then there is "A Short
History of the United States" by Edward Channing (1908), The Constitution
of the United States, and a Constitution Catechism that follows
the same question/answer format of the previous catechism. The
book ends with an Afterword, a sort of charge or call to action
to share the information you have learned through reading and studying
this book.
The book provides no indication of what ages it is designed for
or how exactly it is to be used. I think it is appropriate for
high school age children. This book could have been improved with
the inclusion of guidelines for how exactly it is to be used, assignments
and written work for the student to complete, and quizzes or tests
to ensure learning. In the absence of those helps, I think this
book would best be used by a student who is a self-starter and
an independent learner or else with the help of a parent/teacher
who has the skills to take this book and design a semester-long
class (or a year-long class by supplementing it with other materials).
This book is unabashedly Christian and also supports the Providential
American History view. I think Self Evident Truth is
an important book worthy of study during the high school years
as part of a U.S. government class.
Product review by Kathy Gelzer, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine,
LLC, August 2011
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