A different kind of Bible
“Bible Illuminated: The Book” is a different kind of Bible.
For starters, it’s being promoted as a coffee table book or a high-end, design-forward glossy magazine.
It includes images of celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Bono and Princess Diana.
In a news release, Publisher Illuminated World, a Swedish company, said it set out to make the biblical text more accessible to people who would normally never read it.
“This is another way for people to become familiar or reacquaint themselves to one of the most influential texts of our time,” the company’s U.S. president Larry Norton, said.
“What makes this different than other nontraditional Bibles in the market is that “Bible Illuminated” complements the stories with striking, contemporary photographs that tie back to people’s lives today.”
A new Web site — www.bibleilluminated.com was launched as the Bible was released recently in North America. Publisher Illuminated World’s news release said the site will serve as a forum for discussion on diverse topics ranging from religion, inequality, social justice and the use of imagery in “Bible Illuminated.”
Meanwhile, the softcover “Bible Illuminated” — which features the New Testament – is 288 pages and retails for $35. It was originally published in Sweden in 2007.
Check out the Web site or go peruse the new Bible and let me know what you think.
Do you think the Bible needed this cultural update or makeover?
Send your comments, along with your name, age and hometown to chinton@opubco.com.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
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Comments
While I have not read this book, I have visited the website and find the concept very intriguing. It inspired me to look again at one of my favorite verses from the ancient Hebrew Scriptures, written in the book of Isaiah in chapter 55, verses 9 through 11. For reference purposes, here is the English translation from the New International Version:
As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
There will always be some who maintain that there is only one Bible, the Christian Bible translated into English by order of King James in the 1600’s. While I hate to paint people with one broad brush stroke, it seems to me that adults who hold this belief have the same concept of God that they were taught in the third grade. They hold God prisoner in their church and only visit on Sundays. For the other six and a half days of the week, God acts as distant authority figure trying to punish them for “wrong” behavior as defined by those in their church who claim to know the will of God.
But for many who have rejected this narrow concept of God and are searching for a higher calling and spiritual meaning in their lives, this book may be the water sent by God to nourish them in their search. It could be the key to help them see how God is at work in the world. It may show how God touches their lives every day, not just Sunday.
Who knows for sure? I may be totally wrong, but I trust that God knows what each individual needs, and at the proper time in their lives, will help them bud and flourish in ways that I cannot understand.
I have problems with this Bible. In general I have problems with only taking one verse from a chapter or book because the meaning in many cases is distorted. If the parts of the Bible are displayed in the same way as they are on the website it does not even tell you where the verses are located where people can go and study/research the context. The pictures do not really relate to the verse. Using a female model to reflect how the face of God. I guess it is the face of God since it was not listed where this verse is. At least some of them have a tag which tells the book of the Bible. The one with the female model does not. The Bible actually says to study to show yourselves approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed. Where would someone go to study using this Bible? Maybe the actual book is a little different but from what I have seen so far I think the only purpose for this Bible is to make some money for the publishers instead of trying to help people in their walk with Christ.