The Social Life of Scriptures: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Biblicism (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780813546063)

What do Christians do with the Bible? How do theyndividually and collectivelynteract with the sacred texts? Why does this engagement shift so drastically among and between social, historical, religious, and institutional contexts? Such questions are addressed in a most enlightening, engaging, and original way in The Social Life of Scriptures.

Contributors offer a collection of closely analyzed and carefully conducted ethnographic and historical case studies, covering a range of geographic, theological, and cultural territory, including: American evangelicals and charismatics; Jamaican Rastafarians; evangelical and Catholic Mayans; Northern Irish charismatics; Nigerian Anglicans; and Chinese evangelicals in the United States.

The Social Life of Scriptures is the first book to present an eclectic, cross-cultural, and comparative investigation of Bible use. Moreover, it models an important movement to outline a framework for how scriptures are implicated in organizing social structures and meanings, with specific foci on gender, ethnicity, agency, and power.

Author: James Bielo
ISBN-10: 0813546060
ISBN-13: 9780813546063
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Language: English
Published: 10/01/2009
Pages: 272
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.70d

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 11/01/2009 pg. 23