John F. A. Sawyer 
The Blackwell Companion to the Bible and Culture 

The Blackwell Companion to the Bible and Culture provides
readers with a concise, readable and scholarly introduction to
twenty-first century approaches to the Bible.

* Consists of 30 articles written by distinguished specialists
from around the world

* Draws on interdisciplinary and international examples to
explore how the Bible has impacted on all the major social contexts
where it has been influential – ancient, medieval and modern,
world-wide

* Gives examples of how the Bible has influenced literature, art,
music, history, religious studies, politics, ecology and
sociology

* Each article is accompanied by a comprehensive
bibliography

* Offers guidance on how to read the Bible and its many
interpretations

Table of Content

Notes on Contributors viii

List of Figures xiii

Preface to the Paperback Edition xv

Introduction 1
John F. A. Sawyer

Part I Revealing the Past 9

1 The Ancient World 11
Philip R. Davies

2 The Patristic Period 28
Kate Cooper

3 The Middle Ages 39
Mary Dove

4 The Renaissance 54
Ilona N. Rashkow

5 The Reformation 69
Peter Matheson

6 The Counter-Reformation 85
Euan Cameron

7 The Modern World 104
John W. Rogerson

Part II The Nomadic Text 117

8 Judaism 119
Edward Kessler

9 Islam 135
Stephen N. Lambden

10 Asia 158
Choan-Seng Song

11 Africa 176
Jonathan A. Draper

12 North America 198
Scott M. Langston

13 Latin America 217
Erhard S. Gerstenberger

14 Australasia 232
Roland Boer and Ibrahim Abraham

Part III The Bible and the Senses 251

15 Literature 253
Jo Carruthers

16 Film 268
Alice Bach

17 Music 286
John W. Rogerson

18 Art 299
Heidi J. Hornik and Mikeal C. Parsons

19 Architecture 323
Andrew Ballantyne

20 The Theatre 338
Meg Twycross

21 The Circus 365
Burke O. Long

22 The Body 381
Gerard Loughlin

Part IV Reading in Practice 397

23 Contextuality 399
Gerald West

24 Politics 414
Tim Gorringe

25 Ecology 432
Anne Primavesi

26 Psychology 447
Ilona N. Rashkow

27 Gender 464
Deborah F. Sawyer

28 Nationalism 480
Jo Carruthers

29 Post-colonialism 497
Sharon A. Bong

30 Postmodernism 515
Andrew Tate

Index of Biblical References 534

General Index 546

About the author

John F. A. Sawyer is Emeritus Professor of Religious
Studies at Newcastle University and of Biblical and Jewish Studies
at Lancaster. Among his many publications are Sacred Texts
and Sacred Meanings (2011), A Concise Dictionary of the
Bible and its Reception (2009), and The Fifth Gospel.
Isaiah in the History of Christianity (1996). He is co-editor
of the Concise Encyclopedia of Language and Religion (with
J. M. Y. Simpson, 2001), and series editor (with Christopher
Rowland, Judith Kovacs and David Gunn) of the
reception-history-based Blackwell Bible Commentary Series.