The Influence of Popular Culture’s Interpretation of Noah’s Ark upon Evangelical Reading and Interpretation

Whilst there is much published research looking at the use and/or interpretation of the Bible in popular culture, there has been little research investigating the impact of such cultural biblical engagement upon contemporary Christian Bible readers. Drawing upon focus group data, this paper thus exp...

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Main Author: Anna Hutchinson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-12-01
Series:Religions
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15/12/1535
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author Anna Hutchinson
author_facet Anna Hutchinson
author_sort Anna Hutchinson
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description Whilst there is much published research looking at the use and/or interpretation of the Bible in popular culture, there has been little research investigating the impact of such cultural biblical engagement upon contemporary Christian Bible readers. Drawing upon focus group data, this paper thus explores the influence that the cultural history of Noah’s ark, particularly in popular culture, has upon the way evangelicals interpret. This paper shows that evangelical readers were influenced by the interpretations of the Noah story in the spheres of science, new atheism, children’s books and films, and this affected the conclusions they came to about the issue of historicity, morality and applicability. The paper closes with a reflection on why this phenomenon occurs and what hermeneutical benefits it might offer the reader by considering how God might be at work in the cultural depictions of Scripture and what they might offer interpretative practice.
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spelling doaj-art-b9a37ee2e9b54c668fde71b86101e5b82025-08-20T02:43:43ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442024-12-011512153510.3390/rel15121535The Influence of Popular Culture’s Interpretation of Noah’s Ark upon Evangelical Reading and InterpretationAnna Hutchinson0St Mellitus College, London SW5 0LX, UKWhilst there is much published research looking at the use and/or interpretation of the Bible in popular culture, there has been little research investigating the impact of such cultural biblical engagement upon contemporary Christian Bible readers. Drawing upon focus group data, this paper thus explores the influence that the cultural history of Noah’s ark, particularly in popular culture, has upon the way evangelicals interpret. This paper shows that evangelical readers were influenced by the interpretations of the Noah story in the spheres of science, new atheism, children’s books and films, and this affected the conclusions they came to about the issue of historicity, morality and applicability. The paper closes with a reflection on why this phenomenon occurs and what hermeneutical benefits it might offer the reader by considering how God might be at work in the cultural depictions of Scripture and what they might offer interpretative practice.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15/12/1535Noahevangelicalpopular culturefilmscienceatheism
spellingShingle Anna Hutchinson
The Influence of Popular Culture’s Interpretation of Noah’s Ark upon Evangelical Reading and Interpretation
Religions
Noah
evangelical
popular culture
film
science
atheism
title The Influence of Popular Culture’s Interpretation of Noah’s Ark upon Evangelical Reading and Interpretation
title_full The Influence of Popular Culture’s Interpretation of Noah’s Ark upon Evangelical Reading and Interpretation
title_fullStr The Influence of Popular Culture’s Interpretation of Noah’s Ark upon Evangelical Reading and Interpretation
title_full_unstemmed The Influence of Popular Culture’s Interpretation of Noah’s Ark upon Evangelical Reading and Interpretation
title_short The Influence of Popular Culture’s Interpretation of Noah’s Ark upon Evangelical Reading and Interpretation
title_sort influence of popular culture s interpretation of noah s ark upon evangelical reading and interpretation
topic Noah
evangelical
popular culture
film
science
atheism
url https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15/12/1535
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