By Almighty Amazon

A very 21st century swearing in; @AmbSuzi becomes the 1st U.S. Ambassador to take the oath over an electronic device. http://t.co/5E4bjIRQ2x—
U.S. Embassy London (@USAinUK) June 02, 2014

Earlier this month Suzi LeVine, the new American Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, took the oath of office with her left hand on a Kindle “opened” to the 19th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The episode prompted Hannah Rosefield to look back at where the tradition of using texts, especially the Bible, in such ceremonies began:

The earliest Western use of oath books in a legal setting dates to ninth-century England when, in the absence of a structured royal government, certain transactions were conducted at the altar, the participants swearing on a gospel book. Three centuries later, English courts adopted the practice, requiring jury members and individuals in particular trials to take an oath on the Bible. An unnamed thirteenth-century Latin manuscript, now held in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, sets out the method and the significance of the act. By placing a hand on the book and then kissing it, the oath-taker is acknowledging that, should he lie under oath, neither the words in the Bible nor his good deeds nor his prayers will bring him any earthly or spiritual profit. In time, this became standard legal procedure—all witnesses swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth—and made its way into American courts. British witnesses today still take their oaths “by Almighty God,” as American oath-takers conclude theirs with “so help me God.”