God's Agents : Biblical Publicity in Contemporary England / Matthew Engelke.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Engelke, Matthew, Author.

Series:

Anthropology of Christianity ; 15.

The Anthropology of Christianity ; 15

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

British and Foreign Bible Society.

Bible--Publication and distribution--Great Britain.

Bible.

Evangelistic work--Great Britain.

Evangelistic work.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (321 p.)

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, CA : University of California Press, [2013]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The British and Foreign Bible Society is one of the most illustrious Christian charities in the United Kingdom. Founded by evangelicals in the early nineteenth century and inspired by developments in printing technology, its goal has always been to make Bibles universally available. Over the past several decades, though, Bible Society has faced a radically different world, especially in its work in England. Where the Society once had a grateful and engaged reading public, it now faces apathy-even antipathy-for its cause. These days, it seems, no one in England wants a Bible, and no one wants other people telling them they should: religion is supposed to be a private matter. Undeterred, these Christians attempt to spark a renewed interest in the Word of God. They've turned away from publishing and toward publicity to "make the Bible heard." God's Agents is a study of how religion goes public in today's world. Based on over three years of anthropological research, Matthew Engelke traces how a small group of socially committed Christians tackle the challenge of publicity within what they understand to be a largely secular culture. In the process of telling their story, he offers an insightful new way to think about the relationships between secular and religious formations: our current understanding of religion needs to be complemented by greater attention to the process of generating publicity. Engelke argues that we are witnessing the dynamics of religious publicity, which allows us to see the ways in which conceptual divides such as public/private, religious/secular, and faith/knowledge are challenged and redefined by social actors on the ground.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

A Note to the Reader

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

1. Angels in Swindon

2. The Semiotics of Relevance

3. Kingdom and Christendom

4. Doing God

5. Good Trouble and Good Timing

6. Reasonable Religion

Conclusion

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780520957107

0520957105

OCLC:

859380681