New version of the Bible - Coffee Table Edition!

Most people think of the Bible as a densely printed book with no pictures, but a version of the scripture that resembles a glossy coffee table magazine aims to change that. It's part of a wave of radical presentations of the Bible, including a manga version and a Lego gospel. But how do Christians feel about these attempts to spread the word?
It's the kind of magazine you might find in a doctor's waiting room next to Cosmopolitan or Reader's Digest. On the front is a pale face heavy with mascara. A flick through throws up striking images: urban flooding, a Nigerian abattoir, a girl eating noodles, a pooch in a limo.
It's only when and if you get round to reading the text that the incongruity strikes you: "Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven." What kind of problem page is this?
BIBLE VERSION HISTORY
382: Jerome commissioned to tackle Latin Vulgate translation
1382: Wyclif's Bible, translations of Vulgate scripture into Middle English start to appear
1455: Gutenberg prints Bible using movable type
1522: Martin Luther translates New Testament into German
1526: Tyndale's English New Testament printed
Bible Illuminated is the latest attempt to bring the Bible into the modern world. In the format of a 300-page glossy magazine, it contains the whole text of the New Testament in a popular translation, with no chapter or verse numbers.
The images are by turns beautiful, violent, oblique and provocative - much like the book itself.
The text "She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus" is illustrated with a veiled Muslim. One verse has a photo of a pair of knickers draped over high-heeled shoes, sending you back to the passage to find out what it's really about.
The person behind this remarketing of holy writings is Dag Soederberg, a Swedish businessman. And contrary to expectations, he is not a Christian hoping to convert anyone. "I'm not on a mission from God," he explains. "I'm not particularly religious. I'm not telling anyone they should believe."

What he sees in the Bible is a profitable chance for people to look again at their world. "We are all affected by it," he says. "Morals are based on it, rightly or wrongly, government, laws. I'm saying to people: this is your history, read it.
"It's the most sold book in the world, but the least known. I want to take it off the shelves and put it on the coffee table."
It's the kind of thing that might provoke tuts and headshaking in the pews, one imagines. "Some people will feel it's dumbing down," says David Ashford of the Bible Society, an organisation that exists to "make the Bible heard". "How can it be the Bible when it's got Angelina Jolie in it?"

He, however, welcomes it with open arms. "You have to understand that what we think of as the traditional serious-looking leather-bound Bible is actually a relatively new format. In the Middle Ages, picture books - with people in contemporary dress - were the way most people read the Bible.
"At first the Bible was a collection of scrolls, then illustrated handwritten volumes. When printing was invented they were produced in Latin with pictures. Later they were published in plain closely printed text, in the common language, to get them into as many people's hands as cheaply as possible."
So, ironically, Soederberg's attempt to popularise the Bible by getting away from its traditional format is exactly what the people who created that format were doing.

The Rapped Bible in a Minute!!!

Nanjing, China, becomes Bible printing capital of the world!

Thirty years ago the Bible was banned there, but now China has one of the biggest Bible factories in the world.
A new, expanded printing facility is soon to make China’s ancient capital, Nanjing, the Bible centre of the world.
The Amity Printing Company – a joint venture with the Bible Societies – will be producing 23 Bibles every minute to keep up with growing demand for the Bible in China.
The new press will greatly increase the number of Bibles Amity can produce each year. In 2007 it printed six million Bibles. When the new press opens on 19 May that will leap to a potential 12 million – most of which will be distributed throughout China.

It’s a major step in the history of the printing centre. The People’s Liberation Army printed some of the first Bibles in China after the Cultural Revolution, including three million that were printed on presses of the Red Army. Amity Press – now one of the world’s largest Bible printers – began production in 1987. Last December its 50 millionth Bible was produced.
About 55,000 churches distribute the Bibles that come off Amity’s production lines. The new press was needed to help keep up with demand in a country where, until 30 years ago, Christianity was banned and Bibles were confiscated.
"We got to the point where the volume of work was so great we hadn’t got enough room to store the books in stages of binding and all the paper," said Peter Dean, the Bible Societies’ consultant in Nanjing. "It was everywhere."
According to Peter, there is "a really increasing interest in Christianity" in a country where an estimated seven per cent of the one billion population are believers.
"There are differing views on how many Christians there are," he admitted. "But everyone agrees there is a great interest and a lot of growth in the Christian Church.
"What excites me is our aim is to serve the Church in China. All of this new production capability is available 'first call' for the mainland Chinese Church. If they want to print 12 million Bibles a year, they’ve got it."
Since its inception in the 80s, Amity Press has printed 54 million Bibles – 43 million of which have gone to the churches in China. Some are free and all are made affordable. A pocket edition of the Bible costs about 68p and Chinese Christians can receive the full-size Bible at a subsidised cost of £1.16.

Bible Society plays a key role. "We feel really supported by faithful people who’ve raised funds to buy paper here," Peter explained. "If you want to help place a Bible in China, then giving money to buy paper is the best thing to do."
This is making it possible for the Church to distribute Bibles into rural areas and to provide them for people on low incomes. Amity Press prints in eight Chinese minority languages – as well as Braille Bible. With the move to a bigger press, it will be able to expand its range of books and Bibles.
"Young people need more than just the traditional printed Bible," said Rev Deng Fu Cun, a senior leader in the China Christian Council/Three Self Patriotic Movement, publishers of the Bibles. "So we’re planning to produce the Bible in various digital formats."
They aim to produce the Bible as downloadable audio books – so young people can listen to it on their MP3 players. "And we’re also focusing on the quality and variety of Bibles available. We need both large and small Bibles, Braille Bibles and luxury Bibles that can be given as gifts," he added.
Now with their new 48,000 sq m home, the Amity team can confidently take on large projects like producing Bibles for the Olympics in Beijing. Thanks to their new press, such initiatives won’t be a marathon task.

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Thomas a Kempis - The Book

I have no rest, but in a nook, with the Book.

Thomas à Kempis

Man cannot live by bread alone

Without food we cannot live at all, of course. But we also need other things for a truly satisfying life, including shelter, clothing, a sense of belonging, freedom, justice, friendship, giving and receiving love... That's what this saying is getting at. It originates from the Old Testament, and was quoted by Jesus in an episode in the Gospels where he encounters the devil. In the story, Jesus went into the desert where he was tempted by the evil one during 40 days of fasting. Here's the temptation about food...

The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone."

Double Edged Sword

Don't take anything as gospel, except....

Mobile Phone Bibles

A line of religious mobile phone products has been launched by a Monmouthshire firm - including downloading the Bible for £6. Teimlo launched the service called Ecumen to deliver daily prayers, wallpaper and ring tones. Erik Fok, head of sales and marketing, said he believed young people would appreciate the service.
"The market for Christian content on mobile phones hasn't been well-served," he said.
"There are young Christians out there who want this kind of thing for their phones.

"Christian organisations and churches have been on the back foot in terms of communication, and in terms of getting hold of the current technology and ways of communicating.
The only Bible you can read in the dark Teimlo's promotional message.
"This provides a tremendous opportunity for them." Popular wallpapers available through the Ecumen website include pictures of angels, Noah's Ark, Jesus walking on water and religious messages and symbols.

Ring tones range from the traditional Amazing Grace and Bread of Heaven to modern songs by rock group Delirious, to the distinctly unholy sounds of "burps and laughs" and "pig squeal". Non-violent family-friendly games are also available to download and the Bible can be downloaded, marketed with the phrase: "The only Bible you can read in the dark." Pastor Robbie Howells, of Newport City Church, south Wales, said: "Our mission is to get the good news out there through every medium we can. Some young Christians may not want to use their Bible in school, but now they can have it on their phone and easily read the scriptures to help get them through the day.

Pastor Robbie Howells, of Newport City Church
"Mobile phones are such a great way of telling people about the gospel, and as a pastor it gives me a new way of communicating with members of the church, especially young people. It's getting the message across in a fun, funky way."

He said he was glad people could now access the Bible easily without carrying the book with them.

"Some young Christians may not want to use their Bible in school, but now they can have it on their phone and easily read the scriptures to help get them through the day," he added. "It's one of the things I'm most excited about, encouraging people to use the Bible on a daily basis rather than once a week."

Bible

God's book of "grace" is just like his book of nature; it is his thoughts written out. This great book, the Bible, this most precious volume is the heart of God made legible; it is the gold of God's love, beaten out into gold leaf, so that therewith our thoughts might be plated, and we also might have golden, good, and holy thoughts concerning Him.
-- John Bunyan

In His Name

Lost Bible

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