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America's Bibles: Canon, Commentary, and Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Stephen J. Stein
Stephen J. Stein
Affiliation:
Chancellors' Professor of Religious Studies and department chair at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
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Extract

In America the category ‘bible’ enjoys a privileged cultural position. That fact was brought home to me anecdotally several years ago when I received a telephone call forwarded through a departmental secretary. The woman on the other end of the line expressed frustration because she did not know what to do with a worn-out Bible. She asked if there was a proper way to handle the situation: should she bury it, or burn it? She was genuinely perplexed. Of one thing alone was she certain: she could not throw the Bible into a garbage can. As it turned out, I was of little help. I knew no liturgy for disposing of old Bibles, nor any special protocol for handling them. But I also do not remember ever throwing one away. I am accustomed to seeing old Bibles in attics or on shelves of used-book stores. The telephone call underscored in a practical way the special aura that surrounds the ‘bible’ in America.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 64 , Issue 2 , June 1995 , pp. 169 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1995

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58. The citations in this paragraph appear in promotional literature distributed by Thomas Nelson Publishers and Oxford University Press.