Lectures culturelles de la Bible dans les pays de langue anglaise

Abstract

The Bible has penetrated the culture of English-speaking countries in many ways. From Robinson Crusoe who enchanted the middle classes at the beginning of the 18th century up to the Methodist hymns, from the struggles of the working-classes in the 19th century to the pop culture and feminist claims at the end of the 20th century, from the Mayflower pilgrims to the political speeches of today's United States, succeeding generations and different social classes borrow from the Bible its messages and images, its style and its vocabulary. Faced with this continuity and this diversity, a question arises: is the biblical text being used as an instrument for ideas which are foreign to it? Faced with cultural convictions and received models of social behaviour, is the text left on the contrary to act as a challenge, a source of unexpected inspiration?.