Being the Bible
Sacred Bodies and Iconic Books in Bring Your Bible to School Day
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/post.38256Keywords:
Bible, biblicism, icon, iconic books, indexAbstract
Bring Your Bible to School Day has been a rapidly growing annual event in US schools since 2014. It involves a ritual with the processional object, the Bible in its many personalized variations, operating as an icon that invokes the presence of God and legitimizes evangelical Christians who see themselves as the agents of God’s return to American schools and society. In this ritual, the Bible also functions to index its possessors as affected biblical bodies, or visible manifestations of God’s word. This article analyzes the activities and discourses surrounding Bring Your Bible to School Day in light of material attitudes and practices in Protestant Christianity, including iconoclasm and biblicism, and recent scholarship on iconic books.
References
Althaus, Paul. 1966. The Theology of Martin Luther. Translated by Robert C. Schultz. Philadelphia: Fortress.
Bainton, Roland H. 1963. “The Bible in the Reformation.” In The Cambridge History of the Bible, Volume 3, The West From the Reformation to the Present Day, edited by S. L. Greenslade, 1–37. London: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/chol9780521042543.002
Bainton, Roland H. 1978. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. Nashville, TN: Abingdon.
Belting, Hans. 1994. Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image before the Era of Art. Translated by Edmund Jephcott. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/3170525
Bielo, James S. 2009a. “Introduction: Encountering Biblicism.” In The Social Life of Scriptures: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Biblicism, edited by James S. Bielo, 1–9. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1352.2012.01253.x
———. 2009b. Words Upon the Word: An Ethnography of Evangelical Group Bible Study. New York: New York University Press.
Blunt, Katherine. 2018. “The Preacher’s Son: Joel Osteen and the Making of a Megachurch.” Houston Chronicle. 31 March. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/article/Joel-Osteen-and-the-making-of-Lakewood-Church-12954518.php
Bring Your Bible. 2018a. “Ethan’s Story.” YouTube. 21 June. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnTpiIZjjeA&feature=youtu.be
———. 2018b. “Why does Victoria bring her Bible to school?” Facebook. 8 November. https://www.facebook.com/BringYourBible/
———. 2018c. “We love this pic from Meredyth.” Facebook. 14 November. https://www.facebook.com/BringYourBible/
Brown, Michelle P. 2010 [2012]. “Images to be Read and Words to be Seen: The Iconic Role of the Early Medieval Book.” Postscripts 6(1–3): 39–66. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v6i1-3.39
Calvin, John. 1998. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Translated by Henry Beveridge. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Daly, Jim. 2014a. “Elementary School Students Now Being Censored and You Can Help.” Daly Focus. 29 September. https://jimdaly.focusonthefamily.com/elementary-school-students-now-being-censored-and-you-can-help/
———. 2014b. “Encouraging Stories from ‘Bring Your Bible to School Day.’” Daly Focus. 3 November. https://jimdaly.focusonthefamily.com/encouraging-stories-from-bring-your-bible-to-school-day/
———. 2015. “WATCH: Exclusive Debut of Newsboys Video Kicks Off ‘Bring Your Bible to School Day.’” Daly Focus. 23 September. https://jimdaly.focusonthefamily.com/watch-exclusive-debut-of-newsboys-video-kicks-off-bring-your-bible-to-school-day/
———. 2017. “Bring Your Bible to School Day 2017 Update: Close to 500K Students Brought Hope to the Nation!” Daly Focus. 24 October. https://jimdaly.focusonthefamily.com/bring-bible-school-day-2017-update-students-brought-hope-nation/
Daly, Jim. 2018a. “It’s Legal to Bring This to School.” Daly Focus. 29 August. https://jimdaly.focusonthefamily.com/its-legal-to-bring-this-to-school/
———. 2018b. “650K Students Set an Example for the Nation—One of Hope, not Division.” Daly Focus. 10 October. https://jimdaly.focusonthefamily.com/650k-students-set-an-example-for-the-nation-one-of-hope-not-division/
Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. 1979. The Printing Press as an Agent of Change: Communications and Cultural Transformations in Early-Modern Europe. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021121400026225
Engelke, Matthew. 2007. A Problem of Presence: Beyond Scripture in an African Church. Berkeley: University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0395264900022757
Focus on the Family. 2019. Bring Your Bible. https://www.bringyourbible.org/
Ganz, David. 2019.“Clothing Sacred Scriptures: Materiality and Aesthetics in Medieval Book Religions.” In Clothing Sacred Scriptures: Book Art and Book Religion in Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Cultures, edited by David Ganz and Barbara Schellewald, 1–46. Berlin: DeGruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110558609-001
Graham, William A. 1987. Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hardy, Daniel W. 1999. “Calvinism and the Visual Arts: A Theological Introduction.” In Seeing Beyond the Word: Visual Arts and the Calvinist Tradition, edited by Paul Corby Finney, 1–16. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. https://doi.org/10.1177/004057360205900119
Haynes, Charles C. 2012. “50 Years Later, How School-Prayer Ruling Changed America.” Freedom Forum Institute. 29 July. https://www.Freedomforuminstitute.Org/2012/07/29/50-Years-Later-How-School-Prayer-Ruling-Changed-America/
Humfress, Caroline. 2007. “Judging By the Book: Christian Codices and Late Antique Legal Culture.” In The Early Christian Book, edited by William E. Klingshirn and Linda Safran, 141–158. Washington: Catholic University of America Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt2853v4.14
Joby, Christopher Richard. 2007. Calvinism and the Arts: A Re-assessment. Leuven: Peeters.
Jones, Emily. 2018. “Sadie Robertson: Celebrate Religious Freedom with ‘Bring Your Bible to School Day’ Thursday.” CBN News. 3 October. https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2018/october/sadie-robertson-celebrate-religious-freedom-with-bring-your-bible-to-school-day-thursday
Kaurin, Gregory S. 2004. “God’s Vocal Plan of Salvation.” Sermon for Messiah Lutheran Church, Auburn, West Virginia. 23 May.
Koerner, Joseph Leo. 2004. The Reformation of the Image. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
legitsadierob. 2018. “Hey y’all.” Instagram. 2 October. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bob-rV3gPpq/?utm
Lindsell, Harold. 1976. The Battle for the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Lowden, John. 2007. “The Word Made Visible: The Exterior of the Early Christian Book as Visual Argument.” In The Early Christian Book, edited by William E. Klingshirn and Linda Safran, 13–47. Washington: Catholic University of America Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt2853v4.7
Luther, Martin. 1960. Luther’s Works (LW). Edited by Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut T. Lehmann. St. Louis, MO: Concordia.
Malley, Brian. 2004. How the Bible Works: An Anthropological Study of Evangelical Biblicism. New York: Altamira.
———. 2009. “Understanding the Bible’s Influence.” In The Social Life of Scriptures: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Biblicism, edited by James S. Bielo, 194-204. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1352.2012.01253.x
Marty, Martin. 1972. Protestantism: Its Churches and Cultures, Rituals and Doctrine, Yesterday and Today. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
———. 1982. “America’s Iconic Book.” In Humanizing America’s Iconic Book: Society of Biblical Literature Centennial Addresses 1980, edited by Gene M. Tucker and Douglas A. Knight, 1–23. Chico, CA: Scholars Press.
Mathews, Thomas. 1971. The Early Churches of Constantinople: Architecture and Liturgy. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043249.1973.10793116
McGrath, Alister E. 1990. A Life of John Calvin: A Study in the Shaping of Western Culture. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Michalski, Sergiusz. 1993. The Reformation and the Visual Arts: The Protestant Image Question in Western and Eastern Europe. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1017/s039526490004316x
Onasch, Konrad and Annemarie Schnieper. 1995. Icons: The Fascination and the Reality. Translated by Daniel G. Conklin. New York: Riverside.
Osteen, Joel. 2019. “This is my Bible.” https://www.joelosteen.com/downloadables/Pages/Downloads/ThisIsMyBible_JOM.pdf
Parmenter, Dorina Miller. 2006 [2008]. “The Iconic Book: The Image of the Bible in Early Christian Rituals.” Postscripts 2(2–3): 160–189. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v2i2.160
———. 2009. “The Bible as Icon: Myths of the Divine Origins of Scripture.” In Jewish and Christian Scripture as Artifact and Canon, edited by Craig A. Evans and Daniel Zacharias, 298–309. London: T & T Clark.
Parmenter, Dorina Miller. 2010. “A Fitting Ceremony: Christian Concerns for Bible Disposal.” In The Death of Sacred Texts: Ritual Disposal and Renovation of Texts in World Religions, edited by Kristina Myrvold, 55–70. Farnham: Ashgate. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685152-1018b0006
———. 2012 [2017]. “How the Bible Feels: The Christian Bible as Effective and Affective Object.” Postscripts 8(1–2): 27–37. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.32589
Richards, Erin. 2019. “Bible classes in public schools? Why Christian lawmakers are pushing a wave of new bills.” USA Today. 23 January. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2019/01/23/in-god-we-trust-bible-public-school-christian-lawmakers/2614567002/
Stephens, W. P. 1992. Zwingli: An Introduction to his Thought. Oxford: Clarendon.
Strauss, Valerie. 2014. “Did you know it’s ‘Bring Your Bible to School Day’?” The Washington Post. 16 October. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/10/16/did-you-know-its-bring-your-bible-to-school-day/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6c5d646f38b3
Stuart, John. 1975. Ikons. London: Faber and Faber.
Walter, Christopher. 1970. L’Iconographie des conciles dans la tradition byzantine. Paris: Institut français d’études byzantines.
Watts, James W. 2006 [2008]. “The Three Dimensions of Scriptures.” Postscripts 2(2–3): 135–159.
———. 2012 [2017]. “Scriptures’ Indexical Touch.” Postscripts 8 (1–2): 173–184.
Wilson, Derek. 2008. Out of the Storm: The Life and Legacy of Martin Luther. New York: St. Martin’s.
Zachman, Randall C. 2006. “Calvin as Commentator on Genesis.” In Calvin and the Bible, edited by Donald K. McKim, 1–29. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511606908.002
Bainton, Roland H. 1963. “The Bible in the Reformation.” In The Cambridge History of the Bible, Volume 3, The West From the Reformation to the Present Day, edited by S. L. Greenslade, 1–37. London: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/chol9780521042543.002
Bainton, Roland H. 1978. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. Nashville, TN: Abingdon.
Belting, Hans. 1994. Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image before the Era of Art. Translated by Edmund Jephcott. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/3170525
Bielo, James S. 2009a. “Introduction: Encountering Biblicism.” In The Social Life of Scriptures: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Biblicism, edited by James S. Bielo, 1–9. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1352.2012.01253.x
———. 2009b. Words Upon the Word: An Ethnography of Evangelical Group Bible Study. New York: New York University Press.
Blunt, Katherine. 2018. “The Preacher’s Son: Joel Osteen and the Making of a Megachurch.” Houston Chronicle. 31 March. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/article/Joel-Osteen-and-the-making-of-Lakewood-Church-12954518.php
Bring Your Bible. 2018a. “Ethan’s Story.” YouTube. 21 June. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnTpiIZjjeA&feature=youtu.be
———. 2018b. “Why does Victoria bring her Bible to school?” Facebook. 8 November. https://www.facebook.com/BringYourBible/
———. 2018c. “We love this pic from Meredyth.” Facebook. 14 November. https://www.facebook.com/BringYourBible/
Brown, Michelle P. 2010 [2012]. “Images to be Read and Words to be Seen: The Iconic Role of the Early Medieval Book.” Postscripts 6(1–3): 39–66. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v6i1-3.39
Calvin, John. 1998. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Translated by Henry Beveridge. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Daly, Jim. 2014a. “Elementary School Students Now Being Censored and You Can Help.” Daly Focus. 29 September. https://jimdaly.focusonthefamily.com/elementary-school-students-now-being-censored-and-you-can-help/
———. 2014b. “Encouraging Stories from ‘Bring Your Bible to School Day.’” Daly Focus. 3 November. https://jimdaly.focusonthefamily.com/encouraging-stories-from-bring-your-bible-to-school-day/
———. 2015. “WATCH: Exclusive Debut of Newsboys Video Kicks Off ‘Bring Your Bible to School Day.’” Daly Focus. 23 September. https://jimdaly.focusonthefamily.com/watch-exclusive-debut-of-newsboys-video-kicks-off-bring-your-bible-to-school-day/
———. 2017. “Bring Your Bible to School Day 2017 Update: Close to 500K Students Brought Hope to the Nation!” Daly Focus. 24 October. https://jimdaly.focusonthefamily.com/bring-bible-school-day-2017-update-students-brought-hope-nation/
Daly, Jim. 2018a. “It’s Legal to Bring This to School.” Daly Focus. 29 August. https://jimdaly.focusonthefamily.com/its-legal-to-bring-this-to-school/
———. 2018b. “650K Students Set an Example for the Nation—One of Hope, not Division.” Daly Focus. 10 October. https://jimdaly.focusonthefamily.com/650k-students-set-an-example-for-the-nation-one-of-hope-not-division/
Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. 1979. The Printing Press as an Agent of Change: Communications and Cultural Transformations in Early-Modern Europe. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021121400026225
Engelke, Matthew. 2007. A Problem of Presence: Beyond Scripture in an African Church. Berkeley: University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0395264900022757
Focus on the Family. 2019. Bring Your Bible. https://www.bringyourbible.org/
Ganz, David. 2019.“Clothing Sacred Scriptures: Materiality and Aesthetics in Medieval Book Religions.” In Clothing Sacred Scriptures: Book Art and Book Religion in Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Cultures, edited by David Ganz and Barbara Schellewald, 1–46. Berlin: DeGruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110558609-001
Graham, William A. 1987. Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hardy, Daniel W. 1999. “Calvinism and the Visual Arts: A Theological Introduction.” In Seeing Beyond the Word: Visual Arts and the Calvinist Tradition, edited by Paul Corby Finney, 1–16. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. https://doi.org/10.1177/004057360205900119
Haynes, Charles C. 2012. “50 Years Later, How School-Prayer Ruling Changed America.” Freedom Forum Institute. 29 July. https://www.Freedomforuminstitute.Org/2012/07/29/50-Years-Later-How-School-Prayer-Ruling-Changed-America/
Humfress, Caroline. 2007. “Judging By the Book: Christian Codices and Late Antique Legal Culture.” In The Early Christian Book, edited by William E. Klingshirn and Linda Safran, 141–158. Washington: Catholic University of America Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt2853v4.14
Joby, Christopher Richard. 2007. Calvinism and the Arts: A Re-assessment. Leuven: Peeters.
Jones, Emily. 2018. “Sadie Robertson: Celebrate Religious Freedom with ‘Bring Your Bible to School Day’ Thursday.” CBN News. 3 October. https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2018/october/sadie-robertson-celebrate-religious-freedom-with-bring-your-bible-to-school-day-thursday
Kaurin, Gregory S. 2004. “God’s Vocal Plan of Salvation.” Sermon for Messiah Lutheran Church, Auburn, West Virginia. 23 May.
Koerner, Joseph Leo. 2004. The Reformation of the Image. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
legitsadierob. 2018. “Hey y’all.” Instagram. 2 October. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bob-rV3gPpq/?utm
Lindsell, Harold. 1976. The Battle for the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Lowden, John. 2007. “The Word Made Visible: The Exterior of the Early Christian Book as Visual Argument.” In The Early Christian Book, edited by William E. Klingshirn and Linda Safran, 13–47. Washington: Catholic University of America Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt2853v4.7
Luther, Martin. 1960. Luther’s Works (LW). Edited by Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut T. Lehmann. St. Louis, MO: Concordia.
Malley, Brian. 2004. How the Bible Works: An Anthropological Study of Evangelical Biblicism. New York: Altamira.
———. 2009. “Understanding the Bible’s Influence.” In The Social Life of Scriptures: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Biblicism, edited by James S. Bielo, 194-204. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1352.2012.01253.x
Marty, Martin. 1972. Protestantism: Its Churches and Cultures, Rituals and Doctrine, Yesterday and Today. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
———. 1982. “America’s Iconic Book.” In Humanizing America’s Iconic Book: Society of Biblical Literature Centennial Addresses 1980, edited by Gene M. Tucker and Douglas A. Knight, 1–23. Chico, CA: Scholars Press.
Mathews, Thomas. 1971. The Early Churches of Constantinople: Architecture and Liturgy. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043249.1973.10793116
McGrath, Alister E. 1990. A Life of John Calvin: A Study in the Shaping of Western Culture. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Michalski, Sergiusz. 1993. The Reformation and the Visual Arts: The Protestant Image Question in Western and Eastern Europe. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1017/s039526490004316x
Onasch, Konrad and Annemarie Schnieper. 1995. Icons: The Fascination and the Reality. Translated by Daniel G. Conklin. New York: Riverside.
Osteen, Joel. 2019. “This is my Bible.” https://www.joelosteen.com/downloadables/Pages/Downloads/ThisIsMyBible_JOM.pdf
Parmenter, Dorina Miller. 2006 [2008]. “The Iconic Book: The Image of the Bible in Early Christian Rituals.” Postscripts 2(2–3): 160–189. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v2i2.160
———. 2009. “The Bible as Icon: Myths of the Divine Origins of Scripture.” In Jewish and Christian Scripture as Artifact and Canon, edited by Craig A. Evans and Daniel Zacharias, 298–309. London: T & T Clark.
Parmenter, Dorina Miller. 2010. “A Fitting Ceremony: Christian Concerns for Bible Disposal.” In The Death of Sacred Texts: Ritual Disposal and Renovation of Texts in World Religions, edited by Kristina Myrvold, 55–70. Farnham: Ashgate. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685152-1018b0006
———. 2012 [2017]. “How the Bible Feels: The Christian Bible as Effective and Affective Object.” Postscripts 8(1–2): 27–37. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.32589
Richards, Erin. 2019. “Bible classes in public schools? Why Christian lawmakers are pushing a wave of new bills.” USA Today. 23 January. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2019/01/23/in-god-we-trust-bible-public-school-christian-lawmakers/2614567002/
Stephens, W. P. 1992. Zwingli: An Introduction to his Thought. Oxford: Clarendon.
Strauss, Valerie. 2014. “Did you know it’s ‘Bring Your Bible to School Day’?” The Washington Post. 16 October. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/10/16/did-you-know-its-bring-your-bible-to-school-day/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6c5d646f38b3
Stuart, John. 1975. Ikons. London: Faber and Faber.
Walter, Christopher. 1970. L’Iconographie des conciles dans la tradition byzantine. Paris: Institut français d’études byzantines.
Watts, James W. 2006 [2008]. “The Three Dimensions of Scriptures.” Postscripts 2(2–3): 135–159.
———. 2012 [2017]. “Scriptures’ Indexical Touch.” Postscripts 8 (1–2): 173–184.
Wilson, Derek. 2008. Out of the Storm: The Life and Legacy of Martin Luther. New York: St. Martin’s.
Zachman, Randall C. 2006. “Calvin as Commentator on Genesis.” In Calvin and the Bible, edited by Donald K. McKim, 1–29. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511606908.002
Published
2019-08-02
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Parmenter, D. M. (2019). Being the Bible: Sacred Bodies and Iconic Books in Bring Your Bible to School Day. Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts, 10(1-2), 53-69. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.38256
