Bloomsbury Academic Materializing the Bible: Scripture, Sensation, Place (Bloomsbury Studies in Material Religion)

About the Author James S. Bielo is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, USA. He is the author of four books, most recently Ark Encounter: The Making of a Creationist Theme Park (2018), and is the co-founder and lead curator for the digital scholarship project Materializing the Bible. Product Description From miniatures and monuments to Bible theme parks and attractions, this book explores how and why scriptural text is materialized in various forms and turned into physical, experiential, and choreographed environments. Drawing on archival and ethnographic data, case studies from the Unites States are contextualized globally, with significant references to cases in Israel, Brazil, Canada, Italy, U.K., Philippines, and Germany. Bielo shows that the sensory imperative of religion demands that faith must be experienced, not simply known cognitively or performed discursively. He argues that materializing the Bible generates intimacy with scripture, that can be experienced in multiple sensory configurations - just as the Bible is interpretively open it is also experientially open. Divided into three parts, the book has 20 short essays that can be read in any order, each with one or two case studies. Denominations explored include Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, and Jewish communities. An appendix provides a guide to the Biblio attractions mentioned, and additional images and videos can be found at www.materializingthebible.com Review James Bielo has a gift for explaining complicated concepts in a highly accessible manner, which is on display throughout this book. The research process is impressive and the focus on materializing the biblical text is superb as it creates innovative links between scholarship across adjacent fields, including art history, history, folklore studies, tourism studies, and anthropology.Hillary Kaell, Associate Professor of Anthropology, McGill University, Canada