But sometimes Alter’s comments seem exactly wrong. Alter calls Proverbs 29:2 “no more than a formulation in verse of a platitude,” but Daniel L. Dreisbach’s Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers devotes an entire chapter to that single verse, much loved at the time of the American Founding: “When the righteous are many, a people rejoices, / but when the wicked man rules, a people groans.” Early Americans “widely, if not universally,” embraced the notion that—as one political sermon proclaimed—“The character of a nation is justly decided by the character of their rulers, especially in a free and elective government.” Dreisbach writes, “They believed it was essential that the American people be reminded of this biblical maxim and select their civil magistrates accordingly.” Annual election sermons and other political sermons often had Proverbs 29:2 as “the primary text.” Far from being a platitude, this single verse may contain a cure to the contagion that is contemporary American political life.

We also have good studies of reporta-tiones, or the notes taken from oral events, such as sermons or lectures.25

to record the 300- odd sermonshe delivered, the Cistercian Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) relied on his sec-retaries to take notes during his sermons, which Bernard then revised and madepublic. But other listeners in attendance also came away with notes from the ser-mons, from which some circulated unauthorized versions.6