Newly published Peoples’ Companion to the Bible designed for the classroom

07-21-2010

By Geoff Ashmun

In late 2008, Augsburg Press published what has quickly become one of the most critically acclaimed editions of the Bible to hit the market in recent years. Co-edited by the Rev. Dr. Frank Yamada, Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible at McCormick, The Peoples’ Bible now has a companion text designed for the college classroom.

The Peoples' Companion to the Bible highlights the role of cultures in both the development of the Bible and in its subsequent reception around the world, enabling 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.

Key articles originally published with the The Peoples’ Bible include "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." In addition, new resources exclusive to The Peoples’ Companion include 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.

The Peoples’ Bible and Peoples’ Companion to the Bible will be the subject of a panel review and discussion with the editorial team at a joint session of the Latino/a and Latin American Biblical Interpretation and Asian and Asian-American Hermeneutics cohorts at the upcoming Society for Biblical Literature, November 22, in Atlanta, Georgia.

A member of McCormick’s faculty since 2008, Yamada is an active scholar with published work in several edited collections, bible dictionaries, lectionary volumes, web sites, and periodicals. He also serves as Director of the Center for Asian American Ministries at McCormick (CAAM), which promotes research and study about Asian American theology and ministry and provides curricular and co-curricular programs for Asian American seminary students as they prepare to serve the church.