Performing the Bible Page 1 of 21 PRINTED FROM OXFORD HANDBOOKS ONLINE (www.oxfordhandbooks.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2015. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Handbooks Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy). Subscriber: OUP-Reference Gratis Access; date: 15 November 2017 Abstract and Keywords This chapter explores the phenomenon of performing the Bible; that is, transforming the written words of scriptures into materialized, experiential environments. Throughout the United States, the Bible is performed as replicas and re-creations of particular and general biblical scenes, characters, and stories through registers of museum, theme park, and garden. Distinctive insights into key dynamics of religious materiality and American religious history can be gained by closely analyzing the cultural production of sites that perform the Bible. Ultimately, the chapter argues that performing the Bible is a strategy for actualizing a problem that animates any and every lived expression of Christianity. Keywords: material religion, senses, media, entertainment, museum, performing the Bible CONSIDER two moments in American religious history, separated by nearly 130 years. The first moment is set on the shores of Chautauqua Lake, in New York’s far southwestern corner. In 1874 the Chautauqua Institution created a 400-foot landscape model of “biblical Palestine,” complete with mountains, rivers, seas, and cities in miniature. The model was part of Chautauqua’s broader Methodist project to train Sunday School teachers. In this re-created landscape, Chautauqua Lake was transformed into the Mediterranean Sea. Visitors were transported to the model by boat and encouraged to envision themselves stepping off onto scriptural territory. The second moment transports us to Orlando, Florida. Eleven miles northeast of Walt Disney World, the Holy Land Experience (HLE) opened in 2001. HLE is “a living, biblical museum”—or “biblical theme park” or “theme park cum pilgrimage center”—founded by a Christian Zionist ministry and purchased in 2007 by Trinity Broadcasting Network, a charismatic televangelism ministry. HLE features live Passion Play re-enactments and re- created scenes from a Protestant themed first-century Jerusalem: Old City entrance Performing the Bible James S. Bielo The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in America Edited by Paul C. Gutjahr Print Publication Date: Jan 2018 Subject: Religion, Christianity, Literary and Textual Studies Online Publication Date: Nov 2017 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190258849.013.36 1 Oxford Handbooks Online