Building on the enthusiastic reception of and critical acclaim for The Peoples’ Bible, hailed as “a rich resource” (Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza) that “will empower people to reclaim the Bible as a multicultural, dialogical, and living tradition” (Kwok Pui-lan), this colorful and engaging biblical textbook brings those same new perspectives in biblical studies to the college classroom.

Highlighting the role of cultures in both the development of the Bible and in its subsequent reception around the world, The Peoples’ Companion to the Bible enables students to see how social location has figured in the ways particular peoples have understood the biblical text and helps students formulate their own social location as a key to understanding the Bible and its import for them.

The groundbreaking articles from The Peoples’ Bible are all here, including “Culture and Identity”; “The Bible as a Text of Cultures” and “The Bible as a Text in Cultures”; “Jesus and Cultures”; “The Bible as an Instrument of Reconciliation”; “The Bible and Empire”; “Women, Culture, and the Bible”; and “Responsible Christian Exegesis of Hebrew Scripture,” along with new essays designed for the classroom, including a Bible Reader’s Self-Inventory; introductory essays on the Hebrew Bible and New Testament; and an essay on understanding the biblical theme of “the people of God” in a multicultural world.
 

 
Reviews
“The Peoples’ Companion to the Bible is an excellent guide to studying the Bible with different eyes and from different cultural locations. No one should undertake the journey into the Bible without this expert guide. A must for students, faculty, and general readers.” –Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Krister Stendahl Professor, Harvard Divinity School

“Building on the work of scholars in the acclaimed Peoples’ Bible, this vital new textbook infuses postmodern methods with an ethical imperative of mutual understanding and respect. Student readers analyze their own way of seeing in terms of culture, class, gender, racial identity, family structure, and more, en route to learning others’ ways of seeing. They are thus empowered to engage the interpretations offered by scholars in essays on contextualized interpretation and the historical-critical method as these are applied to the biblical writings. The Peoples’ Companion will help prepare students for life in a pluralistic and diverse world and will challenge teachers to think differently about their own pedagogical aims in the biblical studies classroom. –Julia Lambert Fogg, Associate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, and Chair of the Religion Department California Lutheran University

About the Authors
Curtiss Paul DeYoung is Professor of Reconciliation Studies at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. A well-known advocate and activist, he is author of United by Faith (2003) and Beyond Rhetoric: Reconciliation as a Way of Life (2000).
Wilda C. Gafney is Associate Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.
Leticia Guardiola-Sáenz teaches New Testament at the School of Theology of Seattle University.
George E. ”Tink” Tinker is Professor of American Indian Cultures and Religious Traditions at Iliff School of Theology, Denver, Colorado. He is an enrolled member of the Osage Nation. Among his many publications are Missionary Conquest (Fortress Press, 1993) and Native American Theology (co-authored, 2001).
Frank Yamada is Assistant Professor of Old Testament at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston.