The Museum of the Bible

This volume is remarkable not only for the depth of its analysis, the close scrutiny of the Museum’s exhibits, and the rhetorical strategies and structures it intends to expose. It is singular in its effort to critically resist the efforts of an institution that habitually co-opts and commandeers the research and pedigrees of individual scholars and the institutions they represent...Hicks-Keeton and Concannon show that the academy will not be so easily dismissed or purchased, and that even if the Museum of the Bible seeks to control the meaning of the biblical texts it presents, it will not succeed in controlling the narrative about itself. -- Candida R. Moss and Joel S. Baden, authors of Bible Nation
When billionaire mega-donors with strong ideological leanings can buy their own scholars and create their own historical and cultural narratives, the scholarly enterprise is in peril; perhaps no more so than when the subject matter is religious truth and authority. With this collection of essays, Hicks-Keeton and Concannon have marshalled a forceful response to the most well-funded of these religious programs, the Museum of the Bible. The book exposes the museum’s Christian supersessionism, the disingenuousness of its ecumenical posture, and its disinterest in cultivating thoughtful biblical readers and interpreters. These essays should find an audience among those who love the Bible in all of its multi-vocality and complexity; among students, educators and religious leaders alike; and also among those engaged in the work of interreligious understanding. -- Shelly Matthews, Brite Divinity School