The Bible in Early America

Anglo-American colonists enjoyed a relatively high degree of literacy, and what they mostly did with that literacy was read the Bible. This course shows how early American culture and the course of American history were shaped by extraordinarily widespread reading and oral transmission of the Bible. Each week will focus on the biblical texts, dilemmas, and crises of a different period in early American history. Topics include Puritan colonization, Native American conversion, Black Bible culture, American nationalism, religious mysticism, and the slavery debate.

This course will have an immersive element: in order to better understand the intellectual and psychological effect of constant contemplation of the Bible, students will experiment with text exegesis, memorization, dream analysis, and the interpretation of contemporary events in the style of early Anglo-American Bible readers.