Reading with Anthropology

The social science of anthropology has been used in recent years to open up fascinating new ways of understanding biblical texts. In this fresh and stimulating study, Louise Lawrence argues that anthropology and theology need not be enemies but can become constructive dialogue partners in the search to understand the Bible better. Like a museum curator she guides readers around seven anthropological "exhibits" where selected biblical texts are analysed with resources from anthropology. Themes include spirit-inspired religious healers, power and violence, sex and gender, body and emotion, and social memory. The dialogue opened up here between biblical books and the study of other cultures promises fresh insights on well-known texts. Reading with Anthropology will be of equal interest to biblical scholars seeking a way in to the use of anthropology in their discipline and to anthropologists wishing to better appreciate biblical cultures.