Christianity In Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible

The strong commentary on Christianity in Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible is strongly evident throughout the novel. The narrative itself is divided into ‘books' that mirror those of the Bible, including: Genesis, The Revelation, and Exodus. Throughout the progression of the novel, the structure of the novel strays from a biblical reflection with the addition of new ‘books' which denote Kingsolver's personal appellations. Kingsolver's characters each represent a different attitude towards Christianity. This suggests that Kingsolver's rewriting of the Christian text and adapting it to her own story is in response to the will and progression of her characters.
The father of The Poisonwood Bible represents the weaknesses of religion. Nathan is a strong evangelist who is consumed entirely by his
She represents religion's struggle to adapt in changing times through her own maturing. At the beginning of the novel, she is very much a mirror of her father, determined to cultivate Christianity in Africa; although her motives seem to be more of an appeal to her father's affection than her foundation in faith. Her struggle to rebalance herself as a person begins when she realizes the changes that her father has undergone while in Africa. "My father wears his faith like the bronze breastplate of God's foot soldiers, while our mother's is more like a good cloth coat with a secondhand fit"(68). She has seen her father as someone she doesn't know anymore. Upon the family's exodus due to the civil war, Leah chooses to stay behind and live in Africa. In the end of the novel she says, "I am the un-missionary, as Adah would say, beginning each day on my knees, asking to be converted. Forgive me, Africa, according to the multitudes of thy mercies" (525). Leah's worship of her father is traded for her new belief in Africa; her entire perspective on life is changed, but she retains her strong faith in her own