People of One Book

Although the Victorians were awash in texts, the Bible was such a pervasive and dominant presence that they may fittingly be thought of as ''a people of one book''. They habitually read the Bible, quoted it, adopted its phraseology as their own, thought in its categories, and viewed their own lives and experiences through a scriptural lens. This astonishingly deep, relentless, and resonant engag...