Researchers from an Indiana university announced on Wednesday that they have been awarded with over $500,000 in grant money, which will be used to study how Americans use the Bible in their everyday lives.
Philip Goff, executive director of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at IUPUI, is also a principle investigator for the project.
Lilly Endowment Inc., a private foundation based in Indianapolis that focuses on philanthropy in the areas of community development, education and religion, awarded the grant to researchers at the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis several weeks ago.
According to the center, the three-year research project is one of the first large-scale national studies of its kind.
“The Bible is by all accounts the most important book in American culture,” said Peter Thuesen, chair of the Department of Religious Studies at IUPUI, in an interview with The Christian Post on Thursday.
“It has been ever since Europeans colonized these shores, and it’s always been the biggest American bestseller in all the varied versions. And so what we’re interested in is how are people actually using the Bible.”
Thuesen is one of three principal investigators in “The Bible in American Life” study, alongside the center’s executive director and associate director, Philip Goff and Arthur Farnsley.
Source: Christian Post | Jeff Schapiro
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