Revolve Bible
Revolve Bible for Teenaged Girls
What do you think?
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Annette, Thursday, 9-18-03 12:24 PM
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Revolting
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David, Thursday, 9-18-03 2:07 PM
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Yeah, that's my take.
I like to analyze stuff like this, though, and try to figure out why I find it revolting. (I would be tempted, I'm afraid, even to use the word "blasphemous" in this example.)
On one hand, they've been creating market-specific Bibles since the 60's. In the beginning these were limited to a slightly funky cover, the Living Translation (paraphrase, actually), and maybe a few line drawings inside. Lately we have a Bible version for everybody - including students, firemen, servicemen, working women, ordinary women, and pretty much everyone in between. I'm waiting for the "Unemployed Architecht's Bible" or maybe the "Evil Dictator's Bible."
The whole concept has really started bugging me lately, because it smacks to badly of crass commercialization, and seems like it cheapens the Bible itself. Problem is, I can't bring myself to condemn the whole genere of specialized Bibles off the cuff. For instance, I own a Student Bible (got it when I was in high school), and have found some of the background material and articals to be usefull and/or thought provoking. I suspect someone could say the the same about nearly any specialized Bible. I don't know if at the basic level I think it's *wrong* to put in some thought provoking, explanatory, suplementary material in-line with the Bible text. Dangerous, perhaps: the reader has to maintain strong awareness of the fact that the suplementary material is not "canon," and the provider of said material had better prayerfully keep in mind that his/her thoughts and opinions are showing up in close conjunction with the inspired Word of God... but I still think it *can* be done properly. And might not there be some small value to even this disgustingly crass teen-girl Bible? I mean, if it makes the silly kid pick the thing up and read something true, isn't that a good thing? Meeting people where they are and all that? So while I want condemn the practice in the extreme, I'm not quite sure where the line has been crossed.
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Annette, Friday, 9-19-03 11:27 AM
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I'm a hypocrite
See, I just spent the last hour crafting my response to the Kirn article, concluding that as far as Christian paraphenalia is concerned, who cares! Then I see this. How do you spell that shuddering sound they make on The Simpsons?
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Doug, Sunday, 9-28-03 10:30 PM
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Oh, I don't know that you're too hypocritical...
I don't think that we have to accept *all* (or, I'm afraid, even most) of the trappings of American / Western "Christian Culture" in order to disagree with Kirn's conclusions.
Thankfully. Because I certainly agree that this particular treatment of the Bible is reprehensible.
I'm not a person well suited to making vast sweeping judgements of black and white. As soon as I even make a statement like "this Revolve thing is reprehensible" I start looking for exceptions. (See my post above re: the silly teen who won't pick up a 'dusty looking Bible')
What I guess I mean is: Christ is still preached. No matter how badly we do it, no matter how impure our motives, no matter how imperfect the mode, the word is spread, and those few who get past the trappings will discover the Truth at the bottom. There *are* people - zillions of 'em, if sales are any indication - who deeply enjoy and derive meaning from even the (shudder) "Left Behind" series.
Does, then, the end justify the means? I can't believe that. If it did, Judas would be celebrated instead of despised. But I simply can't find it in myself to be as blanketly judgemental about any and all elements of American Christian Culture as my friend Lokmer (see responses to Kirn artical)
Link: Reference: Phillipians 1:15-18
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Annette, Tuesday, 9-30-03 10:16 AM
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Despising Judas
Are you so sure we should, or do, despise Judas?
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David, Friday, 10-3-03 11:19 AM
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Yeah, but...
I guess I'm looking at it from the perspective of WWID (What Would I Do?) If I had that Bible in my hands, I'm quite certain I would be overcome by the urge to draw mustaches and erase eyes. I am, after all, twelve. And then I'd feel really bad for having vandalized my Bible!
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Doug, Saturday, 10-4-03 11:35 PM
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Yuck.
But, I also don't care for any of the other specially targetted devotional Bibles. They are a marketing gimmick and a way to spoon-feed "correct" thinking rather than promote thoughtful interaction with the text.
Bibles with study aids (cross-reference, maps, chain references, and commentaries on the translation choices) are an entirely different matter. I think people reading the Bible *should* know why a translator picked a particular English word/phrases to translate the Greek/Hebrew passages into and what other English words/phrases are also considered possible translations.
-Kristine
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Anonymous, Monday, 10-6-03 6:23 PM
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