Biblical History Center (La Grange, GA).
Welcome to Materializing the Bible: a digital scholarship project that curates Bible-based attractions throughout the world.
What unites the 480 attractions collected here? While diverse in many ways, they all transform written words of scripture into experiential, choreographed environments. Some are educational, others for fun, devotion, or evangelism. Some are playful, others serious. Some controversial, others not. Some are all of the above.
Attractions that materialize the Bible raise fascinating questions about scripture as a cultural and religious category, pilgrimage and tourism, lived religion, modern consumption, religious art and creativity, sensory experience, attachment to place, religion and politics, and our shared culture of entertainment. What questions do they raise for you?
Materializing the Bible is intended for multiple audiences. We hope educators and students at all levels will find the curation productive and provocative. We also hope the site will be fruitful for public audiences, advancing anthropological ways of understanding Bible-based attractions. And, to fellow travelers: use this site to locate an attraction near you or your next destination. For updates, follow us on Twitter. For a detailed project overview, read this article published in the journal Religion.
Explore the global distribution of attractions with the Map. Explore attractions through four sub-genres:
Primary Subject Areas:
Materializing the Bible has been reviewed in American Anthropologist and the Journal of Heritage Tourism. The project has been featured by Religion and Its Publics (University of Virginia), MAVCOR (Yale University), The Immanent Frame, Iconic Books, Patheos, and SPACES. See an interview with the project founders by the Miami University College of Arts & Science.
The curators would like to acknowledge generous support from the Miami University Humanities Center for funding through the Research Apprenticeship program, and continued support from the Miami University Dept. of Anthropology.
*All photographs taken by James S. Bielo unless otherwise indicated.
What unites the 480 attractions collected here? While diverse in many ways, they all transform written words of scripture into experiential, choreographed environments. Some are educational, others for fun, devotion, or evangelism. Some are playful, others serious. Some controversial, others not. Some are all of the above.
Attractions that materialize the Bible raise fascinating questions about scripture as a cultural and religious category, pilgrimage and tourism, lived religion, modern consumption, religious art and creativity, sensory experience, attachment to place, religion and politics, and our shared culture of entertainment. What questions do they raise for you?
Materializing the Bible is intended for multiple audiences. We hope educators and students at all levels will find the curation productive and provocative. We also hope the site will be fruitful for public audiences, advancing anthropological ways of understanding Bible-based attractions. And, to fellow travelers: use this site to locate an attraction near you or your next destination. For updates, follow us on Twitter. For a detailed project overview, read this article published in the journal Religion.
Explore the global distribution of attractions with the Map. Explore attractions through four sub-genres:
- Re-Creations: biblical stories, scenes, and characters replicated in multiple media;
- Gardens: botanical flora used to re-create biblical environments;
- Creationist sites: promoting young earth creationism;
- Bible History Museums: biblical manuscripts and/or archaeological artifacts and replicas organized as narrated exhibits.
Primary Subject Areas:
- Anthropology
- Anthropology of Religion
- Anthropology of Christianity
- Aesthetics, the Senses, Embodiment
- Pilgrimage and Tourism
- Space and Place
- Social life of scriptures
Materializing the Bible has been reviewed in American Anthropologist and the Journal of Heritage Tourism. The project has been featured by Religion and Its Publics (University of Virginia), MAVCOR (Yale University), The Immanent Frame, Iconic Books, Patheos, and SPACES. See an interview with the project founders by the Miami University College of Arts & Science.
The curators would like to acknowledge generous support from the Miami University Humanities Center for funding through the Research Apprenticeship program, and continued support from the Miami University Dept. of Anthropology.
*All photographs taken by James S. Bielo unless otherwise indicated.
Visitor Brochure from Bibleland (Orlando, Florida, USA). c.1960