The Most Significant Book of the Netherlands — And Its Ordinary Readers

Abstract Although the Netherlands has become one of the most secular countries in the world, the Bible still plays an important role for many people as a source of cultural and spiritual inspiration. Despite extant empirical research, there remains a pressing gap of knowledge concerning the actual use of the Bible by “ordinary readers.” This makes it more difficult for organizations such as the Dutch Bible Society to engage the public with the distribution of Bible translations and inspirational products. This large-scale mixed-method (qualitative and quantitative) research project aims to pro... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Foppen, Annemarie
Schol-Wetter, Anne-Mareike
Smit, Peter-Ben
van Urk-Coster, Eva
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
Reihe/Periodikum: Journal of the Bible and its Reception ; volume 8, issue 1, page 107-133 ; ISSN 2329-4434 2329-440X
Verlag/Hrsg.: Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Schlagwörter: General Medicine
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26790235
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/jbr-2020-0007

Abstract Although the Netherlands has become one of the most secular countries in the world, the Bible still plays an important role for many people as a source of cultural and spiritual inspiration. Despite extant empirical research, there remains a pressing gap of knowledge concerning the actual use of the Bible by “ordinary readers.” This makes it more difficult for organizations such as the Dutch Bible Society to engage the public with the distribution of Bible translations and inspirational products. This large-scale mixed-method (qualitative and quantitative) research project aims to provide both practical (or commercial) and academic insights on Bible reading practices and views on the Bible among Dutch “readers” in various ‘ideological’ contexts. One of the most significant results is that biographical factors appear more indicative for how the Bible is approached than more ‘conventional’ denominational factors such as church affiliation.