by Noah Webster
Webster's 1828 Dictionary, a fascimile of the original edition, is a national treasure and a primary source tool for daily study. The Dictionary defines words according to their meaning during the founding generation (making it a prerequisite to understanding America's founding documents) from a Biblical context. Many definitions contain Scripture references and excerpts of Bible verses.
The
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary is a unique and essential tool for educating Christians. It has the greatest number of Biblical definitions of any reference. Roots are traced in 26 languages. Usage examples come from classical literature and the Bible. This dictionary becomes not only a tool for defining words Biblically, it becomes a way of thinking that forms your worldview. It will equip you for Christian leadership, strengthen your vocabulary, give you an edge in communicating your view and become your foundation for thinking and reasoning Biblically. This tool can be the turning point for you to be more effective in communicating Christian principles used in government, economics, and marketing or for your student to clearly understand how the Bible has influenced every area of life.
This gigantic, oversized, heavy book is perhaps second only to the Bible in terms of importance in your home. When Noah Webster first published this book, he understood that whoever defined the words of a culture would capture that culture. So he sought to give the American people a dictionary in which words have meaning in terms of their relationship to Jesus Christ. In fact, this is the only comprehensive dictionary of the English language in print that seeks to communicate a distinctively biblical worldview, even to the point of using Scriptures in the definitions.
Your children can join the ranks of those generations of American leaders who were weaned on Webster. It is sturdy and well-bound with acid-free paper and a gold foil stamp. A worthy investment for both you and your children.
Example of two definitions:
From The New Collegiate Dictionary (1981):
LAW: a binding custom or practice of a community; a rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority. (This definition continues for two inches of one column of space.)
Does that definition sound okay for the meaning of "law"? Maybe, but if you consider the alternative, absolutely not. Let's look at the dictionary that bases definitions upon the authority of original languages and the Bible—the American Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster, published in 1828.
From An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828):
LAW: A rule, particularly an established or permanent rule, prescribed by the supreme power of a state to its subjects, for regulating their actions, particularly their social actions. Laws are imperative or mandatory, commanding what shall be done; prohibitory, restraining from what is to be forborne; or permissive, declaring what may be done without incurring a penalty. The laws which enjoin the duties of piety and morality, are prescribed by God and found in the Scriptures. (This definition continues for twenty-one inches of three columns of space!)
Will it make a difference to this student's understanding of law which definition he spends time studying? How will he understand law from the first definition? What is the implication of "custom" in the first dictionary versus "rule" in the second one? What is the implication of law being defined as "prescribed" or "recognized" rather than "mandatory," "commanding," "prohibitory," or "permissive?" What will be his view of authority and enforcement? What will be his sense of responsibility for law?
Does the second definition establish a different source and authority for law? What philosophical position will be inculcated by the second definition? What theology?
Today the necessity for restoring the clarity and identity of Constitutional meanings is obvious if we are to make substantial progress in rebuilding the foundations upon which this nation was established. Without a standard of reference for America's history and philosophy of government students can not be expected to make the distinctions and discriminations between similar terms used in history texts today.
The 1828 facsimile reprint of the first American Dictionary, published by the Foundation for American Christian Education, documents the quality of Biblical education which raised up American statesmen capable of forming our Constitutional Republic. One Christian scholar described it as the greatest reprint of the twentieth century. It also contains Noah Webster's dissertation,
Origin, History, and Connection of the Languages of Western Asia and of Europe, and his
Concise Grammar of the English Language, as well as an added biography,
Noah Webster, Founding Father of American Scholarship and Education by Rosalie Slater, which describes his significant contributions to a wide variety of fields and records his conversion to Christ. With 2,000 pages and a forest green vellum hardcover, as well as an embossed gold-stamped Paul Revere eagle, it is sure to enlighten and enrich your whole family's understanding of American English and Christian history!
Hardback; 2000 pages
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