Children's Bibles in America - (Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies) by Russell W Dalton (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Children's Bibles have been among the most popular and influential types of religious publications in the United States, providing many Americans with their first formative experiences of the Bible and its stories. In Children's Bibles in America, Russell W. Dalton explores the variety of ways in which children's Bibles have adapted, illustrated, and retold Bible stories for children throughout U.S. history. This reception history of the story of Noah as it appears in children's Bibles provides striking examples of the multivalence and malleability of biblical texts, and offers intriguing snapshots of American culture and American religion in their most basic forms. Dalton demonstrates the ways in which children's Bibles reflect and reveal America's diverse and changing beliefs about God, childhood, morality, and what must be passed on to the next generation.

Dalton uses the popular story of Noah's ark as a case study, exploring how it has been adapted and appropriated to serve in a variety of social agendas. Throughout America's history, the image of God in children's Bible adaptations of the story of Noah has ranged from that of a powerful, angry God who might destroy children at any time to that of a friendly God who will always keep children safe. At the same time, Noah has been lifted up as a model of virtues ranging from hard work and humble obedience to patience and positive thinking. Dalton explores these uses of the story of Noah and more as he engages the fields of biblical studies, the history of religion in America, religious education, childhood studies, and children's literature.

Review Quotes

Dalton superbly evokes the way in which supposed children's Bibles raise tough adult exegetical questions. Though his masterful survey is aimed for a scholarly audience ... its readability and vivid examples could also make it useful for advanced undergraduates.
Theological Book Review

It is a scholarly book well written and researched with a strong engagement with the relevant literature. At the same time it presents an engaging and informative narrative which draws the reader into the central thesis of the book.
British Journal of Religious Education

Russell W. Dalton has undertaken a very challenging task. He has opted to research the reception history, over the last 300 years, of the Biblical story of Noah's arc in American culture and country. Without a doubt, this has filled a gap in research. His research is a presentation of the most extensive study of US-American Children's Bibles. Such a research undertaking, in respect of both its time period coverage and the quantity of children's Bibles that have been engaged with, has no counterpart volume for any other comparable region. [...] This is an important contribution to research of children's bibles. The lesson that we can learn from it is that children's bibles are a literary category in their own right, and that we can speak of an independent children's bible-hermeneutic.
Society of Biblical Literature (Bloomsbury translation)

About the Author

Russell W. Dalton is Professor of Religious Education at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, USA.