I feel like I’ve been seeing a lot of strange stories lately about people totally disrespecting the Holy Scriptures by doing all kinds of things with it, but unfortunately, the only one I can think of is this story about the green Bible (as in environmentally friendly).
However, this new story has come to my attention, and I don’t understand the reason for it other than exploitation for money.
Excerpt:
Once only the elite, the educated and the holy had the privilege of inscribing the words of the Bible, verse by verse.
Now Americans coast to coast will have a chance to hand-copy a verse of Scripture to appear in a special edition of the New International Version of the Bible, known as the NIV.
To mark the 30th anniversary of the NIV, which has sold 300 million copies worldwide, publisher Zondervan launches a campaign today to create the unique edition, which will include its 31,173 verses, each handwritten by a different person.
A huge blue RV with the logo “BibleAcrossAmerica.com” splashed on its side and “Inspiration at every turn” on its back takes off on a five-month journey bringing “writing stations” to 90 stops in 44 states at churches, landmarks and popular settings such as NASCAR races.
… A photo facsimile of all the verses will be compiled and published in time for Christmas 2009; the index will list each participant’s name and the number of the verse he or she copied.
One set of originals will be bound and offered to the Smithsonian. The second set, also bound, will be auctioned to benefit the International Bible Society, which holds the NIV copyright and is co-sponsoring the project with Zondervan. (Source)
I fear the LORD too much to treat HIS Holy Scriptures like a high school yearbook. This won’t accomplish anything — and I really hope these folks will quadruple check what everyone has written, considering some folks will probably actually put the Holy Bible aside for this lockerroom version. And everyone will get “credit” in this version… this is just too much. Is nothing considered holy anymore?
Anything for a buck, I guess. Am I blowing this out of proportion?
I think you are blowing it out of proportion. The Bible was copied verbatim word for word by hand for a millennia, by monks before the advent of the printing press. This is no different. But instead of 50 monks writing a single page over an entire month, it is 31,000 people copying a verse.
I think it’s a really cool thing. I was at the Detroit signing yesterday and their team is handling it very prayerfully. It was amazing to see so many people looking for a new way to experience God’s word.
You should do it if they come to your town.
In the interests of full disclosure, I’m an employee of Zondervan, and I’m also one of the folks who had the opportunity to stand in line under a rainy sky for the chance two write out one of the 31K+ verses of the Bible.
It’s not a locker-room thing, at all.
Here’s how it worked: I was handed a plastic laminated card with a single verse printed on it (mine was Exodus 4:4). The lady who handed me my card then opened her Bible and read aloud the verse I had been given while we both checked it for accuracy. Then, when it was my turn to step up to the podium, I had two sheets of paper before me upon which the people before me had already written their verses up to Exodus 4:3. I began by writing the numeral “4,” then transcribed the entire verse onto both sheets of paper. Then my work was scrutinized by the lady who had handed my card to me. Later, at the end of the day, all the sheets were collected and organized and placed into a safe. (Whether there was a proofreading at that stage or not I do not know.)
However, my role at Zondervan is to serve as editorial operations manager, and one of the processes I oversee is the Bible publication process. I can tell you that each Bible produced by Zondervan will undergo, at minimum, three proofreadings before publication.
I leave to better minds than mine the exploration of whether publishing any Bible is a gimmick or whether selling any Bible for a reasonable profit is exploitation. Since I work at Zondervan, that’s probably an issue where my objectivity would be questioned.
Regards,
Rich
BlogRodent
Hello, Greedo and Rich:
I understand what you’re saying, but I still think this whole thing is going in the wrong direction. Yes, the Holy Scriptures were hand-written verbatim before the printing press came into play. It’s great that Zondervan is thorough in checking for accuracy and is apparently very organized with this event (as it should be). But it’s the whole thing about everyone getting credit in this new hand-written edition for the verses they copied — and that it’s coming out just in time for Christmas. Those two things right there rub me the wrong way.
OK, the Christmas angle is a new one for me. This was spray painted on the Wall in mid-September (http://hiscrivener.wordpress.com/2008/09/18/the-inconvenient-truth-no-really/)
And the vitriol I received in my personal inbox was overwhelming. Well, not really, but it was a lot. But “a new way to experience God’s Word”?! Not so much. If you want a “new experience,” try reading it with an open heart and an open mind. If you want to just learn more, then do it.
Nice post, LaVrai.
Peace,
HiScrivener
How interesting… it would be okay to publish this Bible, just not at Christmas? Thus, in order to avoid any appearance of impropriety, one could sell such a Bible as long as it wouldn’t interfere with Christmas sales of other Bibles? Right?
And it’s wrong for us to give credit for the people who have written in the Bible? It’s okay to publish the names of the people involved in, say, the translation committee, but if we use their handwriting and reproduce it as the text, we shouldn’t give credit? Really? How is this a sin?
What, exactly, is at the heart of the criticism here? Is it that any money is being exchanged at all for a Bible? Is it that you’re worried that someone will rewrite the translation given an opportunity? Is it that you’re concerned that the Bible should be a Divine-only book and that any earmarks of human involvement somehow sullies it?
I honestly don’t get it. What, exactly, is objectionable? I see gut-level reactions against it, but I haven’t seen any arguments against it.
Rich
BlogRodent
Hi, Rich. The blog post above is my opinion. I quoted no scripture from the Holy Bible to support my statement — it’s an opinion. I never said anything that Zondervan is doing in this event is a sin.
In my opinion, it is questionable that the book is being pushed at one of the highest consumer points during the year on the biggest holiday (I am guessing Christmas is the biggest holiday in America). That appears to me that Zondervan is looking to maximize sales — not purely to make Holy Bibles available and accessible to the masses — which is what I think (this is an opinion, too) what Bible publishing should be about — not just the bottom dollar. In my opinion, Rich, having people receive credit for the verses they hand-copied into this new Zondervan edition of the Holy Bible is inappropriate — they didn’t write these words originally — they just transcribed it. What do they need credit for? As for translators receiving credit — shouldn’t we know who to hold accountable for TRANSLATING the Holy Scriptures from the Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew or Latin? Translation is a serious matter. In my opinion, transcribing is not as serious, so no credit need be given.
In summary, as stated in the above post, this all appears to me to be a major marketing event for Zondervan to make some serious money.
You are free to disagree — opinions are allowed. I am not attacking or questioning you personally — I am questioning your employer, the folks who pow-wowed this brilliant marketing ploy. In my opinion, it’s rather tasteless and disrespectful to the sanctity of GOD’s Word.
If you find in your reaction to this (if you do decided to comment again), that you end up repeating yourself, as I just had to since you didn’t understand the reason for my opinions on this matter, please don’t bother as I will likely delete it.
Why waste time and energy “debating” something based purely on opinion? We are allowed to agree to disagree. That doesn’t affect our Salvation through Jesus Christ, Rich. But persisting in a fruitless argument… I don’t see how that benefits either you or me.