Christian Tourist Attractions, Mythmaking, and Identity Formation

Description

Christian Tourist Attractions, Mythmaking, and Identity Formation examines a sampling of contemporary Christian tourist attractions that position visitors as the inheritors of ancient, sacred traditions and make claims about the truth of the historical narratives that they promote. Rather than approaching these attractions as sacred expressions of religious experience or as uncontested accounts of history, the book applies recent work on mythmaking and identity formation to argue that these presentations of the past function as strategic discourses that serve material concerns in the present. From an approach informed by social and materialist theories of religion, the volume draws upon a variety of methodological approaches that enable readers to understand the often-bewildering array of objects, claims, demands, and activities (not to mention the seemingly endless array of gifts and personal items available for purchase) that appear at attractions including Ark Encounter, the Creation Museum, the Holy Land Experience, Bible Walk Museum, Christian Zionist tours of Israel, and the recently opened Museum of the Bible. Discourse analysis, practice theory, rhetorical criticism, and embodied theories of cognition help make sense not only of the Christian tourist attractions under examination but also of the ways that "religion" is entangled with contemporary social, political, and economic interests more broadly.

Erin Roberts is Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, University of South Carolina, USA. Jennifer Eyl is Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion, Tufts University, USA.

Editors Erin Roberts and Jennifer Eyl have brought together eight stimulating essays that examine the presentation of various Christianities at a variety of Christian tourist attractions (CTA) ... [The] vivid descriptions of the CTA in each chapter make the book accessible to a non-specialized audience ... [Its] engaging case-studies and mostly accessible theoretical reflections make it an excellent addition to the classroom. * Reading Religion * "A terrific book. These highly readable and fascinating case studies make important but sometimes dense theoretical work highly accessible." * Julie Ingersoll, Professor of Religious Studies, University of North Florida, USA * "This hugely welcome examination of Christian visitor attractions in the US (and of Christian-Zionist tourism) brings together scholars from very different disciplines. Their shared lens is the analysis of mythmaking, and together they contribute greatly to the study of the renewed role of religion in tourism and of tourism in religion." * Crispin Paine, Honorary Lecturer at the, Institute of Archaeology, University College London, UK * "In Christian Tourist Attractions, Mythmaking, and Identity Formation, Erin Roberts and Jennifer Eyl bring together experts in the critical and coherent study of discourses about religion, politics and mythmaking to a surprisingly understudied area of Christian tourism. As expected from the editors and the contributors, this volume is of high intellectual quality but it remains accessible for university courses and modules on religion and the reception history of the Bible." * James Crossley, Professor of Bible, Society and Politics, St Mary's University, UK * "In this inventive and informative book, scholars of ancient Christianity turn their attention to popular religion and the various contemporary claims about Jesus. Tthe result of their scholars' collective efforts is a robust and worthy discussion about mythmaking. This is an excellent book." * Randall Balmer, John Phillips Professor in Religion, Dartmouth College, USA * "Central to Foucault's idea of how subjects are formed is his observation that social orders are not just coercive but also productive, positive, and attractive. This original and accessible book shows how immersive attractions like Holy Land Tours, Ark Encounter, the Creation Museum, and the brand new Museum of the Bible do their work to pull people in, equip them with a story to tell, and provide them with a religious identity for a divided world. This original and accessible book provides an innovative study into how Christian identities are formed - a valuable tool for any scholar in religious studies and identity formation." * Kevin Schilbrack, Chair in the Department of Philosophy and Religion, Appalachian State University, USA *