Dear ANTHROPOLOGY-MATTERS Subscribers,

We would like to announce a new publication from New York University Press, which we hope will be of interest.

Ark Encounter
The Making of a Creationist Theme Park
James S. Bielo


http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/ark-encounter

"Here, as in his study of Bible study culture in Words Upon the Word, Bielo demonstrates a remarkable ability to invite his readers into a community’s processes of religious negotiation and navigation. In his hands, we discover the Ark Encounter as a story of many fascinating encounters between fundamentalism, creationism, biblical consumerism, and religious entertainment."—Timothy Beal, Case Western Reserve University and author of The Book of Revelation: A Biography
“This thorough study of a creationist theme park explores the ramifications of intertwining religion and entertainment and provides an analysis that has fascinating implications for understanding not only conservative Christianity but also the entertainment-saturated society around it.  This compelling and readable ethnography shows that creationism must stake its bid for cultural authority in terms of the largely unquestioned values and techniques of our culture of entertainment.”—Peter Stromberg, University of Tulsa
Behind the scenes at a creationist theme park with a mission to convert visitors through entertainment.
Opened to the public in July 2016, Ark Encounter is a creationist theme park in Kentucky. The park features an all-timber re-creation of Noah's ark, built full scale to creationist specifications drawn from the text of Genesis, as well as exhibits that imagine the Bible’s account of life before the flood.  More than merely religious spectacle, Ark Encounter offers important insights about the relationship between religion and entertainment, religious publicity and creativity, and fundamentalist Christian claims to the public sphere.
James S. Bielo examines these themes, drawing on his unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to the Ark Encounter creative team during the initial design of the park. This unique anthropological perspective shows creationists outside church contexts, and reveals their extraordinary effort to materialize a controversial worldview for the general public. Taking readers from inside the park’s planning rooms to other fundamentalist projects and diverse Christian tourist attractions, Bielo illuminates how creationist cultural producers seek to reach both their constituents and the larger culture.
The “making of” this creationist theme park, Bielo argues, allows us to understand how fundamentalist culture is produced, and how entertainment and creative labor are used to legitimize creationism.  Through intriguing and surprising observations, Ark Encounter challenges readers to engage with the power of entertainment and to seriously grapple with creationist ambitions for authority. For believers and non-believers alike, this book is an invaluable glimpse into the complicated web of religious entertainment and cultural production.
James S. Bielo is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Miami University. He is the author of four books including, Anthropology of Religion: The Basics, Emerging Evangelicals: Faith, Modernity, and the Desire for Authenticity, and Words Upon the Word: An Ethnography of Evangelical Group Bible Study. He is also the founder of Materializing the Bible, a digital scholarship project, available at www.materializingthebible.com.
With all best wishes,

Combined Academic Publishers



New York University Press | July 2018 | 240pp | 9781479842797 | PB | £20.99*
*Price subject to change.


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