This onsite pop-up exhibit, a case filled by a collection of Christian nationalist materials sourced from thrift stores, antiques shops, and estate sales, asks what kind of presence do these materials have: as secondhand commodities, as vestiges of lived religion, as display objects, and as a curated assemblage? Through an exploration of circulation, materiality, and presence, Dr. Bielo proposes an approach for the study of Christian nationalism as a historically-rooted cultural pattern that underwrites any particular ideological or theo-political expression. If you missed his talk about the exhibit, a copy of his lecture text can be found here.
About Dr. Bielo: James S. Bielo is an anthropologist of religion, with an ethnographic focus on Christianity in the United States. His research interests center on materiality and language as lived resources in religious life, and the intimate relations of religion and power.