James Bielo

Thrifted in Evanston. “No one hears the cries of the poor, or the sound of a wooden bell.” Made in Haiti. #secondhandsacred

The rules are simple. When you find someone’s donated collection of Jack van Impe LPs at a thrift store, you get them all. (Three were still sealed!) #secondhandsacred #vinylcollection

Thrifted. Key hanger from Guatemalan Catholic shrine #secondhandsacred

1969 New Testament by Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru). This came out a few years before Bright and Loren Cunningham announced their 7 Mountain Mandate vision. #secondhandsacred

The Goodwill VHS section was especially antagonistic this week. #secondhandsacred #vhs #vhscollector #creationism #prophecy

I didn’t know the collection was missing a pencil sharpener until I found this at a Chicago antiques store last week. #secondhandsacred

Greek Orthodox icon, sourced from Chicago antiques store #secondhandsacred

Fun lil haul from Evanston antiques store yesterday. #secondhandsacred

1949 Biblegraph, this one printed for Hilton Hotels (others for Billy Graham Revival and NY Tract Society. Seller bought from estate sale in southern IL #ebaymethod #secondhandsacred

Never been! How was it?

2 evangelical heavy metal hair band cassettes added to the collection: 1986, 1991. Thanks @animalrecordsevanston #secondhandsacred #stryperband #cassettes #collecting #recordstore

On Saturday I saw someone emptying a bin of books into a garbage container. Naturally, I was curious what was discarded. Opened the lid to see bibles & prayer books amid the scattered pile. So, naturally, I hopped in to take a closer look. Pulled out a few gems! #secondhandsacred #dumpsterdiving

An estate sale find from Friday. Also, the last new acquisition post of 2025! #secondhandsacred

Thrifted, 4 Spanish language gospel cassettes. #secondhandsacred

Thrifted, 2016 Minecraft New Testament. #secondhandsacred

Reprint of 1985 Jack Chick comic. One of 24 comics Chick made. #secondhandsacred

Bibles added over last 2 weeks. #secondhandsacred

2020; a new used copy purchased online #secondhandsacred

Some say for napkins, others for envelopes/mail. Either way, a nice addition to the Domestic Devotion exhibition theme. And I always like it when there are multiple price tags testifying to a social life in circulation #secondhandsacred

Thrifted this icon yesterday, though haven’t seen the image before. Reverse image search no help. Does anyone know? #secondhandsacred

Shroud lenticular from the St Vincent de Paul thrift #secondhandsacred

The dexterity game/palm puzzle/patience game portion of the collection adds another. #ebaymethod #secondhandsacred #dexteritygames

Thrifted gospel vinyl. #secondhandsacred

Thrifted. I see many Divine Mercy prints, but this is the first stained glass-esque version I’ve come across. Designed to interact with light, I imagine it hung in windows that would catch the sun just so. #secondhandsacred

Thrifted, 1983 evangelical fitness LP. Adds to a little vein in the collection. You can watch a copy of the VHS version here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=so3l... #secondhandsacred

Unexpected Sacredness: On Receiving Talismans As Gifts by Valentina Gamberi Preamble: An Unusual Chinese New Year’s Eve New Taipei City, Chinese New Year’s Eve 2025. Two days later, I was to return to Europe after five months of fieldwork in Taipei and…

The latest Collecting Religion essay is live! Check out Valentina Gamberi's "Unexpected Sacredness: On Receiving Talismans as Gifts." collectingreligion.wordpress.com/2025/11/24/u...

The Secondhand Sacred collection is safely home. It was enormously fun exhibiting at #aarsbl25 in Boston! So many wonderful conversations, stories, and moments of delight!! Thanks to all who stopped by and played along :) #secondhandsacred

Traveling light to @aarsbl25 this year. Secondhand Sacred will be at booth #430 Sat-Monday morning: swing by and say hi, listen to cassettes, click through View-Master slides, peer through a stereoscope, flip through vinyl and postcards and much more! #aarsbl25 #secondhandsacred

Thrifted, 1992 Lutheran cookbook #secondhandsacred

Another Utrecht gift for the collection. This biblical energy bar is courtesy of Ernst van den Hemel, which he picked up at the DC Museum of the Bible gift shop. For now, it’s residing in my campus office. #secondhandsacred