Filtering the Canon

The first interview I conducted was with Bethany, a Christian in her early twenties, who was brought up in the Anglican Church and describes herself as “more of a reformer than a radical.” At the time, Bethany was studying full time for a postgraduate taught degree in religious studies. We met in her on-campus shared flat, in her individual, student study-bedroom, kitted out in the usual corporate furniture used ubiquitously in university accommodation. It was an intimate setting because space was tight. This was not only because there was one place to sit (on her single bed, leaning up against the wall, side-by-side with the voice recorder in between us), but also because the room was a record of her reading. Apart from the stacks of library books on the desk and packed onto the limited shelving, Bethany’s room was covered in post-it notes and scraps of paper she had blue-tacked to the wall, on which she had handwritten extracts and quotations from songs, films, poetry, prose, and academic theory (with full referencing) she finds inspiring. Bethany reads for spiritual meaning constantly.