America's Bibles

3 credits · Graduate School

This course asks why and to what ends have Americans produced so many kinds of Bibles; not just different translations, but different versions of the same translation? Students will examine that history of Bible creation to understand better what it tells us about particular religious communities and American religion generally. In doing so, students will consider the broad themes of American religious history, such as race, gender, nationalism, millennialism, and science and will use such theories as narrative criticism and material Christianity. Most broadly this course invites students to consider the significance of the Christian Bible to the creation and display of a variety of religious and no-so-religious meanings throughout U.S. history. Thus, students will study the Bible as both a sacred text for some and an unavoidable cultural object for all Americans. [3] Mr. Byrd.