Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-229) and index.

Encountering biblicism / James S. Bielo -- The trouble with good news : Scripture and charisma in Northern Ireland / Liam D. Murphy -- "In the beginning" : a chapter from the living testament of Rastafari / John W. Pulis -- "The man is the head" : evangelical discourse and the construction of masculinities in a Tzotzil village / Akesha Baron -- The Word of God and "our words" : the Bible and translation in a Mam Maya conext / C. Mathews Samson -- How Q'eqchi'-Maya Catholics become legitimate interpreters of the Bible : two models of religious authority in sermons / Eric Hoenes del Pinal -- "We are Anglicans, they are the Church of England" : uses of Scripture in the Anglican crisis / Rosamond C. Rodman -- Chinese American Christian women of New England : transformation and continuity in inter-generational narratives of living in Christ / Erika A. Muse -- The bones restored to life : dialogue and dissemination in the Vineyard's dialectic of text and presence / Jon Bialecki -- Textual ideology, textual practice : evangelical Bible reading in group study / James S. Bielo -- Revolve, the bibelzine : a transevangelical text / Susan Harding -- Understanding the Bible's influence / Brian Malley -- The social life of the Bible / Simon Coleman.

Print version record.

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 ethnographicand historical case studies, covering a range of geographic, theological, and culturalterritory.

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