Bible Nation: The United States of Hobby Lobby

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Princeton University Press, Jul 16, 2019 - Political Science - 252 pages

How the billionaire owners of Hobby Lobby are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to make America a “Bible nation”

The Greens of Oklahoma City—the billionaire owners of the Hobby Lobby chain of craft stores—are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in an ambitious effort to increase the Bible’s influence on American society. In Bible Nation, Candida Moss and Joel Baden provide the first in-depth investigative account of the Greens’ sweeping Bible projects. Moss and Baden tell the story of the Greens’ efforts to place a Bible curriculum in public schools; their rapid acquisition of an unparalleled collection of biblical antiquities; their creation of a closely controlled group of scholars to study and promote the collection; and their construction of a $500 million Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. Revealing how all these initiatives promote a very particular set of beliefs about the Bible, the book raises serious questions about the trade in biblical antiquities, the integrity of academic research, and the place of private belief in public life.

 

Contents

Introduction
1
The Collection
22
The Green Scholars Initiative
62
Education
99
The Museum of the Bible
137
Conclusion
176
Afterword
195
Notes
209
Bibliography
231
Index
237
Copyright

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