2017, Candida Moss and Joel S. Baden, 240 pages
by Sidney Carlson White
Bible Nation: The United States of Hobby Lobby (Princeton University Press, 2017) is a particularly prescient piece of contemporary history that seeks to blend the domains of religious studies, American politics, and evangelical theology. Its authors, who are students of ancient Near East history by trade, provide an interesting look at the life and politics of the Green family, most notable for their ownership of the Hobby Lobby craft store chain. While the Greens have made headlines in the previous decade for their work in undermining the Affordable Care Act and its reproductive health protections, what is less discussed is how their particular ideologies and reading of the Bible have insidiously shaped scholarship surrounding biblical history.
This book highlights how powerful right-wing groups like the Green family are using their wealth and influence to shape scholarship in a variety of fields. Moss and Baden effectively decry how the family (and its incredible penchant for gobbling up the antiquities of the Near East) has cornered the market for pre-biblical texts and artifacts, while creating a powerful bureaucracy that places limits on who is allowed to view and discuss the contents of the family’s massive collection of artifacts. As the authors continue, we begin to see the dangers that arise when an entire field of study becomes dominated by demagoguery and historical misreading. In fact, their damage goes well beyond the halls of colleges and universities: Moss and Baden highlight how the Greens’ ideology has leaked into high school curricula, antiquities forgery, and even the D.C. museum scene.
While I find that the authors focus too much on the Green family’s shoddy readings of the Bible (at various points, they appear more offended by their misreadings of genealogical trees than the fascistic ideology of the family itself), the book is a warning about the importance of academic integrity, and how the far Right can harness the academy to act out its own political ends. For anyone that is looking to unpack the ever-important connections between religious studies and the politics we live and breathe, I can’t recommend it more. It forces us to consider and reconsider what it means to be a good scholar of history, and teaches us to be more perceptive students, no matter what field of study we may be in.
Sidney Carlson White is a Senior at Yale University studying Economics and American Studies. Previously, he has worked with the Museum of the City of New York, and has helped collect materials for the soon-to-open Jackie Robinson Museum.