Lay learning and the Bible in the seventeenth-century Atlantic world. By Kirsten Macfarlane. (The Bible and the Humanities.) Pp. xii + 257 incl. 3 ills. Oxford–New York: Oxford University Press, 2024. £99. 978 0 19 893309 0

Key Points

• The aim is to investigate how lay learning shaped understanding and use of the Bible in the seventeenth-century Atlantic context.
• Analyzes historical texts and cultural contexts from the Atlantic world during the seventeenth century.
• Examines the influence of laypeople on Biblical interpretation and their educational practices.
• Highlights the role of lay learning in expanding access to Biblical texts.
• Demonstrates that lay interpretations influenced religious and cultural practices in the Atlantic world.