For those of us who have experienced spiritual violence, reading scripture can feel more dangerous than inspiring. Finding resources to help us think about the Bible in new ways can be helpful towards reclaiming the tradition. This list is a diverse array of books (in alphabetical order by author), each with their own perspective, but not specifically about OtherWise experience.
What Is the Bible?: How an Ancient Library of Poems, Letters, and Stories Can Transform the Way You Think and Feel About Everything (2017) by Rob Bell
Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith (1995 with later reprints) by Marcus Borg
Reading the Bible Again For the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally (2001) by Marcus Borg
The Cross and the Lynching Tree (2011) James H. Cone
Reading the Bible from the Margins (2002) by Miguel de la Torre
“Breaking Open: Biblical Literalism & Inerrancy” edited by Alba de Onofrio, available at http://www.soulforce.org
Set Them Free: The Other Side of Exodus (2002) by Laurel Dykstra
Liberating Biblical Study: Scholarship, Art, and Action (2011) edited by Laurel Dykstra and Ched Myers
The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It (2015) by Peter Enns
How the Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How An Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers—and Why That’s Great News (2019) by Peter Enns
Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again (2018) by Rachel Held Evans
Five Books Of Miriam: A Woman’s Commentary on the Torah (1997) by Ellen Frankel
Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne (2017) by Wilda C. Gafney
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (2017) by Wilda C. Gafney
Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel (2008) by Wilda C. Gafney
The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart (2002) by Peter Gomes
Unsettling the Word: Biblical Experiments in Decolonization (2019) edited by Steve Heinrichs
Unveiling Empire : Reading Revelation Then and Now (1999) by Anthony Gwyther and Wes Howard-Brook
“Come Out My People!”: God’s Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond (2010) by Wes Howard-Brook
Empire Baptized: How the Church Embraced What Jesus Rejected (2016) by Wes Howard-Brook
Living in the Shadow of the Cross: Understanding and Resisting the Power and Privilege of Christian Hegemony (2013) by Paul Kivel
The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus (2009) by Amy-Jill Levine
The Jewish Annotated New Testament (2011) edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler
The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us (2011) by Amy-Jill Levine and Douglas A. Knight
Entering the Passion of Jesus: A Beginner’s Guide to Holy Week (2018) by Amy-Jill Levine
Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus (1988) by Ched Myers
Who Will Roll Away the Stone?: Discipleship Queries for First World Christians (1994) by Ched Myers
The Africana Bible: Reading Israel’s Scriptures from Africa and the African Diaspora (2009) Edited by Hugh R. Page Jr., et al
Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture (1992 and 2009) by John Shelby Spong
Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes (2009) by John Shelby Spong
Jesus and the Disinherited (1984) by Howard Thurman
Steps to Recovery From Bible Abuse (2000) by Rembert Truluck
Just a Sister Away: Understanding the Timeless Connection Between Women of Today and Women in the Bible (2007 revision of 1988 classic) by Renita J. Weems
I Asked for Intimacy: Stories of Blessings, Betrayals, and Birthings (1993) by Renita J. Weems
Battered Love (1995) by Renita J. Weems
