"I bring it with me everywhere": The Materiality of the Bible in Critical Illness

Abstract

There are a variety of ways in which one can elaborate on how readers interact with classic religious texts in our contemporary world. This contribution deals with how the Bible interacts with readers who find themselves in the interpretative context of living with incurable cancer in Norway. The idea of this paper developed out of the observation that some of my interviewees in a research project on the significance of the Bible in cancer seemed to value the material side of the Bible just as much as its contents.1 After becoming incurably ill and receiving palliative care, they told me that they started practicing their religiosity different than before, and the material side of the Bible became more crucial compared to what was the case earlier. This dynamic interplay between biblical text and practice connected to it captivated my interest.