The Lustre of Our Country

John T. Noonan, currently serving as Judge on the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, has written both a personal and historical account of the experience of religious freedom in American history. Noonan begins his book by giving an autobiographical narrative of his Catholic upbringing in Boston and how this affected his theological and political views on religious freedom. He discusses his difficulty in reconciling his belief, taught by his father and other intellectual mentors, in religious tolerance with the teachings of the Catholic Church, which asserted that it was the one true church and that it was the duty of the state to actively promote Catholicism as the only true religion. Noonan then draws upon his theological knowledge to argue, contrary to what his Church once taught, that the very idea of religious freedom is fundamentally a Christian one. Noonan sums up his argument:"By the first century A.D. there is in the Mediterranean world a religionEhat carries the concepts of a God, living, distinct from and superior to any human being, society, or state; of obligations to that God, distinct form and superior to any society or state; of authorized teachers who can voice these obligations and judge any society or state; of an inner voice of reason that is one way God speaks as well as by His authorized teachers. According to these concepts as taught by this religion, each person, individually and not as part of a family, tribe, or nation, will have to account to God as Judge for every thought and deed. Collectively, these concepts are at the core of liberty of conscience and liberty of religion." Noonan then turns to history. In the Introduction to the book, Noonan put forward the argument that "free exerciseEs an American inventionEever before 1791 was there a tablet of the law, a legal text guaranteeing to all a freedom from religious oppression by the national legislature." Noonan now goes on to demonstrate the evidence for this claim. He traces the settlement of New England, the religious oppression of the Quakers and the Baptists, and then tells how religious liberty came about from these early conflicts. Noonan writes that: Plymouth and the Bay Colony provided an ideal and a rhetoricEhode IslandEnd PennsylvaniaEhowed that organized government could exist without supporting a churchEand] Maryland provided the phrase [free exercise] that is at the core of the First Amendment. All four colonies demonstrated that the Church of England could tolerate other forms of Christian worship and so prepared the ground for the English Act of Toleration. Noonan demonstrates that it was the pluralism of the colonies and the diversity of religious sects that contributed in large part to the development of religious freedom in early America. This "proliferation of sects" gave colonists "a variety of alternatives to the established" churches, which "created political constituencies that politicians had to consider." The

The first book by John T. Noonan, Jr., that I read was his tour de force, Contraception: A History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists, which I finished reading on June 5, 1967, finding it an exemplary study of a fascinating subject. On June 16, 1973, I read his Power to Dissolve: Lawyers and Marriages in the Courts of the Roman Curia. Each year I pick a book which I consider the best book I read that year. For the year 1973 I awarded Power to Dissolve the greatest book of the 55 books I read that year. When I saw The Lustre of Our Country I knew I could not go wrong reading it, and I was right. Other reviewers have written well of the book, but even if you do not read the entire book--its chapters are able to stand alone--read Chapter 7, entitled "The Pilgrim's Process." It is a dazzling and devastating critique of the Supreme Court's meanderings in dealing with the religion provisons of the First Amendment. This is an excellent book, and anyone interested in its subject will be rewarded in reading it.

One of the ironies of American Constitutional history is that many of our greatest jurists have never had the opportunity to sit on our highest court. One thinks of such obvious examples as Learned Hand, John Johnston Parker,Arthur Vanderbilt, Roger Traynor, and John Minor Wisdom. John T,. Noonan, currently a senior judge with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, clearly deserves to be ranked in this select company( as does his philosophical antipode, Richard Posner of The seventh circuit). This book, remarkably lucid, remarkably learned and remarkably humane, constitutes the culmination of Noonans historical, legal and philosophical reflection.Other reviewers have already indicated the riches of this fine books contents. I will only note that I learned something new, or encountered a fresh and startling argument, on almost every page. Noonan has thought deeply about democracty and human freedom, not only in America, but in other countries as well. The chapters on France, Japan, and Russia show an understanding of the cultural political, and religous life of those nations which borders on the extraordinary. The chapter on Tocqueville( told through the literary device of an imaginary account of America written by Tocquevilles equallly imaginary sister, Angelique,) is quite brilliant, and opens up new perpectives on Tocqueville. All in all, a great book. One hopes for more from Judge Noonans learned and humane pen.It is truly amazing that mediocrites such as Breyer, Kennedy, Ginsburg and Souter sit on the court, while this deeply patriotic and brilliant man has to preside over the often humdrum cases of the ninth circuit.

This is a very special book. Its subject matter is weighty, its intent serious, its disciplines--law and theology--address issues of grave import. The purpose of this review is to alert potential readers to qualities as to which a more adequate review is likely to leave them unaware. The text of the "Lustre" is not ponderous. Instead navigation of the thicket of ideas which the text presents tends to leave the reader refreshed rather than drained. Eccentric and various in its organization and modes of presentation, this book frees one from captivity to a prescribed routing and invites navigation after one's own bent. Subtle logic combines with a pervasive historical sense. Events permeated with paradox and tragedy are presented with insight and wit. Not an easy read; but rewarding. As in the case of Whitman's Leaves of Grass, a reader of this book touches the life of a very special American.

You'd expect this book to be either a paen to conservative values, or a completely dry legalistic review. It's neither, which is really wonderful. The first chapter suffers from bouts of overdetail, but once you get past that, the book blossoms into a very interesting pastiche of historical facts and musings reported in an unconventional array of styles that really hold your attention. Besides, where else would you read about the treatment of Jews in the Massachussetts Bay Colony?? A highly original read.