Description
Book SynopsisHugh S. Pyper is Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK.
Trade ReviewSummarized. * New Testament Abstracts *
Pyper’s work should hold the interest of biblical scholars, theologians, sociologists of Christianity, those interested the reception of religious texts, and finally educated and motivated general readers.
The Unchained Bible, like the Bible itself, fruitfully invites its readers to wonder, curiosity, and offense before its many penetrating insights, strange vistas, and unexpected connections. For putting together such a work, Pyper and T&T Clark are to be commended. -- Joseph K. Gordon, Marquette University * Reviews in Religion and Theology *
This collection of essays offers a wide range of unexpected readings of the Bible in popular culture, literature, film, music, and politics ... Hugh Pyper’s point throughout the present volume is that the Bible’s effects may surprise and sometimes dismay both religious and secular groups when it is ‘free to roam’, unchained from the constraints of the Church. Infused with his characteristic wry humour, Pyper’s book seeks to provide a conscious engagement with these effects ... Through his varied examples of ‘odd intersections between the Bible and popular culture’ Pyper effectively demonstrates how attention to the cultural appropriation of the Bible can often aid understanding of the text. -- Christine E. Joynes, Trinity College, Oxford, UK * Journal of Theological Studies (Vol. 64.2) *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Section 1. Making Sense The Beginnings of the Bible Biblical Nonsense
Section 2. Biblical Politics Religion Despite the Bible The Bible in the Metropolis
Section 3. The Bible as Guidebook Biblical Tourism: Portuguese Novelists and the Life of Christ The Book of Dave versus the Bible
Section 4. Music, Nationalism and the Bible Jonah in Estonia, Joseph in Latvia: The Bible and National Identity in the New Baltic Republics Musical Analysis and Biblical Interpretation: Brucknerian Transpositions
Section 5. The Sporting Bible Wrestling the Bible The NASCAR Bible
Section 6. The Evolution of the Bible When Jesus was (nearly) Scottish: Judaism and its Alternatives in Biblical Interpretation Dispelling Delusions: Dawkins, Dennett and Biblical Studies
Conclusion
