Materializing the Bible: James S. Bielo

Our guest, anthropologist James Bielo explores a diverse range of practices and places that "materialize the Bible," including gardens, theme parks, shrines, museums, memorials, exhibitions, theatrical productions, and other forms of replication.

In his recent book, Materializing the Bible: Scripture, Sensation, Place, Bielo argues that “materializing the Bible” works as an authorizing practice to intensify intimacies with scripture and circulate potent ideologies. Performed through the sensory experience of bodies, physical technologies, and infrastructures of place, Bielo illustrates how this phenomenon is always, ultimately, about expressions of power.

James S. Bielo is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, USA. He is the author of four books, most recently Ark Encounter: The Making of a Creationist Theme Park (2018), and is the co-founder and lead curator for the digital scholarship project Materializing the Bible.