Why do evangelical Christians join – and remain in – Bible studies? That’s how I would characterize the basic themes of this and next weeks’ chapters of James S. Bielo’s Words Upon the Word: An Ethnography of Evangelical Group Bible Study, which I have been blogging through as part of my research project on academic perspectives on evangelicals. In chapter 3, “Cultivating Intimacy,†Bielo observes the close relationship between evangelicals’ view of God and their desire for relationships with fellow Christians. Next week, we’ll look at chapter 4, which deals with the role of shared interested in shaping and maintaining Bible study groups.
Do you agree that intimacy is a primary goal for evangelical Bible studies? Have you find Bible studies to be a good support system for evangelicals in the academy?
In this chapter, Bielo focuses on a “Prayer Circle†at a Restoration Movement church in Lansing, which he feels “exemplifies a defining theme of American Evangelicalism: the conceptualization of Christian spirituality as an intimate experience†(74). [Read more…] about Bielo: Intimacy in Evangelical Bible Studies