How the Bible Works
An Anthropological Study of Evangelical Biblicism
Published on 30. April 2004
Book
Paperback/Softback
184 pages
978-0-7591-0665-9 (ISBN)
Description
What do evangelicals believe when they 'believe in the Bible?' Despite hundreds of English versions that differ in their texts, evangelicals continue to believe that there is a stable text-'the Bible'-which is the authoritative word of God and an essential guide to their everyday lives. To understand this phenomenon of evangelical Biblicism, anthropologist and biblical scholar Brian Malley looks not to the words of the Bible but to the Bible-believing communities. For as Malley demonstrates, it is less the meaning of the words of the Bible itself than how 'the Bible' provides a proper ground for beliefs that matters to evangelicals. Drawing on recent cognitive and social theory and extensive fieldwork in an evangelical church, Malley's book is an invaluable guide for seminarians, social scientists of religion, or for anyone who wants to understand just how the Bible works for American evangelicals.
Reviews / Votes
Brian Malley's ethnography brims with bold new insights and counter-intuitive ideas about how conservative evangelicals know 'what the Bible says.' After deftly disposing of literalist cliches, he shows how their interpretive traditions combine with an absence of hermeneutic method and their desire for daily relevance to 'bring the Bible alive' for each generation. A must-read for anyone curious about what Bible belief really is and how it happens. -- Susan Harding, University of California, Santa Cruz This is an exciting time for students of religion, with new competing theories drawing on cognitive anthropology and psychology, and on evolutionary biology. With this first in-depth case-study of a religious movement based on these novel ideas, Brian Malley makes an outstanding contribution to the ongoing debates. -- Dan Sperber, French Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
California
United States
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
276 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7591-0665-9 (9780759106659)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
05/2004
1st Edition
AltaMira Press
€40.99
Available for download
Person
Brian Malley studied comparative religion at Western Michigan University (M.A., 1994) and anthropology at the University of Michigan (Ph.D., 2002). He currently lectures in psychology at the University of Michigan. His main interests are religion and the intersection of culture and cognition.