Customer Reviews

The Peoples' Bible

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Unlike many traditional Bibles, this one gives you the text without the breaking up of the stories into the traditional pericopes and the traditional tiles of those pericopes. You get the text and you decide what you are reading. There are small comments on parts of the text but those comments are there to make you think and not tell you what to think. The introduction to each book will help you see each book through a new set of social lenses rather than from your traditional social location that really does have an impact on how you read and interpret the scriptures.

"The Peoples' Bible" speaks not only of the ancient cultural settings of scriptural texts, but also to how scripture has been used in and by a variety of cultures through history. So each book of the Bible, in addition to being introduced by the type of historical overview common in study bibles such as HarperCollins and New Oxford Annotated, is accompanied by in-text commentaries which identify readings which have been problematic for different people over time, and/or seek to apply the biblical text in liberative ways to contemporary situations.

"The Peoples' Bible" provides something of the cultural locations of most of its commentators. Contemporary biblical art and documentary photography further the editors' goal of widening the reader's experience. "The Peoples' Bible" may be recommended as a multicultural project which seeks to inform "first world" readers of "two-thirds world" sensitivities. Nicely bound, though a more generous font-size for the commentary inserts would be welcome in future printings, as would a table of parallel Gospel passages. Four and a half stars.

I have to say that I'm disappointed with this Bible. The description made it sound as if there would be many new insights into the cultures of then and now. Not so. The introductions to the Bible are helpful articles, and the introductions to each book provide good information, though not better than anything else I own. The occasional inset articles really do not provide much that is helpful for me as a pastor.

That having been said, it is a Bible. If you need a Bible and the price is right, this may be the Bible for you. It is the New Revised Standard Version, which I enjoy using, and so it will be one more Bible on my shelf, which will get used as often as any other.

I was fortunate enough to read this Bible from my local Library before I bought a used from Amazon. I thought it was just that good to have in my Bible studies.

I bought this Bible for its contemporary translation of the Old and New Testaments and its inclusion for the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books so the added commentary is secondary to me. Perhaps that is just as well as there seems to be too little of justify the new price - scattered throughout the book are excerpts and small note- length articles that revolve on social justice and seeing passages from another perspective (this was explained to me from another review from a competing website) which may irk some the more conservative readers but if you are one of those people, you have been told more than enough to stay from the NRSV text. None the less, the book does do (and do well) encourage people of all populations to see part of themselves through the history, poetry, prophecy, and wisdom that is the Bible. The gallery of "The Bible at the Crossroads of Culture" contains beautiful Biblically inspired art as sampled by other cultures is very beautiful and some more contemporary images that reconcile historical realities with Biblical themes, thought it may offend some with its photographs of the corpses of Charlemange Peraltre and Oscar Romero under the heading of a crucifixion theme.

I do have concerns about the workmanship though. Perhaps it is limited to my copy but it still makes a cracking sound whenever I lay it flat or move more around pinches of hundreds of pages. Additionally, the spine comes in two pieces that I think will ultimately come apart (either the spine come off entirely or may develop those crack-splits when a book has been forced to lay flat) with heavy use. I suppose something like that is a LONG way off considering the care I give all my books.

The commentaries to this Bible edition are aggressively anti-Christian and anti- Biblical authority. Although the authors present the objective of their work to affirm the multi -racial, -national and cultural diversity within the body of Christ ( a wonderful and praiseworthy task, in my opinion!!!), in reality the Peoples' Bible commentary is nothing more than a bunch of angry, historically and theologically inaccurate random attacks on the Christian belief and the divine inspiration of the Scripture. The professors who praise this edition, Pui-lan and Schussler Fiorenza ( see the back cover), are scholars whose academic career has been built on attacking orthodox Christian faith.
The authors of the Peoples' Bible are mainly concerned with promoting extremely left-wing political agenda rather than with the academic accuracy of their theological analysis or the overall integrity of their comments for the Early Christian historical context. For example, one commentator interpreted the disciples' election of Matthias as the twelfth apostle in Acts 1as setting the example for contemporary job discrimination of non-white people! As a graduate student at a seminary , I was amazed how poorly historically constructed, politically biased and ridiculously logically absurd those supposedly "Christian" commentaries are.

Lots of great insights from different cultural perspectives, but not overwhelming: the reader has lots of room to think for herself. Not every story is interpreted or explained, but here and there a box contains a short interpretation from a particular cultural context. Great layout, which makes the book attractive and easy to read.

I love this bible! I have had the opportunity to read and study this bible thoroughly and found that it offered me such rich learning and insight. The articles, commentaries and insets were particularly helpful in opening my mind and heart to the beliefs and experiences of other cultures and how they view the bible. The bible is structured in an easy-to-read format, with beautiful color images, and informational insets that I found useful for self-reflection and contemplation. It is an inclusive bible, allowing every person of every race, gender, sexual preference, culture, socio-economic status, the opportunity to find themselves in the bible. I found the perspectives unifying. In today's world where we have the opportunity to embrace diversity and become one-people,this bible is a welcomed companion.

If there was one reaction that I had after reading through The People's Bible, it was simply 'why has it taken so long'. Both Dr's Yamada and DeYoung along with the other contributers have created a bible is has been crafted for the modern world. The contributions by Native-American, African-American, feminine and transgender scholars have truly produced a bible that has revolutionized previous understandings of Scripture. I have just purchased my copy and I would wholeheartedly recommend it for the serious Scripture scholar who wishes to get an alertnate viewpoint(s)of sacred Scripture as well as for serious Bible study.