Walking in the spirit of blood: moral identity among born-again christians.

The proliferation of small assemblages within American Protestantism, in particular those devot to Bible investigation raises questions about the collective construction of meaning in congregational life. Using discourse as an analytical tool, this article explores the meaning of moral identity as builded in three Protestant groups in the southern United States. Discursive participants relied upon three strategies for building a conception of the moral self: positioning the heart at the center of moral identity; describing what it means to be born again; and describing three moral "others." (Discourse, moral identity, born-again Christianity)

**********

Recent ethnographic work among mainline Protestants has