Words Upon the Word: An Ethnography of Evangelical Group Bible Study

by James S. Bielo

Evangelical Bible study groups are the most prolific type of small group in American society, with more than 30 million Protestants gathering every week for this distinct purpose, meeting in homes, churches, coffee shops, restaurants, and other public and private venues across the country. What happens in these groups? How do they help shape the contours of American Evangelical life? While more public forms of political activism have captured popular and scholarly imaginations, it is in group Bible study that Evangelicals reflect on the details of their faith. Here they become self-conscious religious subjects, sharing the intimate details of life, interrogating beliefs and practices, and articulating their version of Christian identity and culture.

In Words upon the Word, James S. Bielo draws on over nineteen months of ethnographic work with five congregations to better understand why group Bible study matters so much to Evangelicals and for Evangelical culture. Through a close analysis of participants' discourse, Bielo examines the defining themes of group life--from textual interpretation to spiritual intimacy and the rehearsal of witnessing. Bielo's approach allows these Evangelical groups to speak for themselves, illustrating Bible study's uniqueness in Evangelical life as a site of open and critical dialogue. Ultimately, Bielo's ethnography sheds much needed light on the power of group Bible study for the ever-evolving shape of American Evangelicalism.

208 pages, ebook

First published April 1, 2009

Reviews

[Kelly Sauskojus · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wild kind of research with fascinating but limited results.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Words Upon the Word, James Beilo offers a brief but compelling series of ethnographic case studies that illustrate the importance of Bible Studies in Evangelical Culture. He uses linguistic and anthropological methods, building on reader response-based literary theory to illustrate the ways that small group Bible Studies construct meaning around Biblical texts. He argues that small groups are a space of knowledge production in which participants build intimacy; reading and textual selections are structured around participants desire to prove the truth of the Scripture, as well as their personal outside interests. Small groups are also staging grounds for shaping how believers understand themselves, not only because they allow participants to think about the how they might witness to nonbelievers, but also because they serve as a space in which believers can work out their personal and denominational commitments.

This is one of the strongest works I've read on the creation and significance of Evangelical culture. Unlike so many authors, Beilo does not "other" his study participants. He presents a charitable but complex and honest picture of the people that he studies, one that does not easily accept all of their beliefs, but that also favorably presents them as engaged in the creation of knowledge and culture.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot. I think that it fills a gap that we academics are not attending to. Those of us who are biblical scholars are really not very interested in how people actually read the Bible and what happens when they gather in groups to do so. Fortunately, James Bielo is interested in that, and he has convinced me that more of us need to be interested in it. Way to go, James!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the only books examining evangelical small groups from the inside. Some insightful analysis, and a great section on the six meanings of the question, "Are you a Christian?"