Rutgers University Press The Social Life of Scriptures: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Biblicism (Signifying on Scriptures)

What do Christians do with the Bible? How do they - individually and collectively - interact 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. Review "Bielo's collection is a must for all serious students of Christianity. It puts forth such a simple idea, we have to wonder why it's taken so long for anthropologists to get it: we cannot understand Christianity without understanding 'the social life of scriptures.' In their detailed analyses, the contributors here make a convincing case." - Matthew Engelke, London School of Economics" From the Back Cover "The Social Life of Scriptures" is the first book to present an eclectic, cross-cultural, and comparative investigation of Bible use. 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. Contributors offer a collection of closely analyzed and carefully conducted ethnographic and historical case studies, covering a range of geographic, theological, and cultural territory. About the Author JAMES S. BIELO is a visiting assistant professor in the department of anthropology at Miami University in Ohio.