If Christ is the WORD and if you are only getting part of the WORD in these cut down versions then you aren't getting either him or it.Agape <><
Mark Rouleau
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB113228234675201034-lMyQjAxMDE1MzEyODIxODgyWj.html
Bible to Go By DAVID GIBSON November 18, 2005; Page W13
A new line of downsized, user-friendly Scriptures is now hitting the bookstores and, inevitably, producing cheeky headlines: "Bible in a Blink," "Good Book Lite" and "To Come: 10-Minute Messiah?" The cause of the commotion is "The 100-Minute Bible," a pamphlet version of Holy Writ that was released in Britain a few weeks ago. It slashes the usual 780,000 words of God down to about 20,000, printed on fewer than
60 pages, each designed to be read in less than two minutes. It has already sold more than 40,000 copies in a nation where weekly worship rates are in the high single digits at best.For cultural curmudgeons who live for such omens of the apocalypse, this biblical bowdlerization has been, well, manna from heaven -- confirmation of everything that they have long suspected about the cut-rate religiosity of the slacker generation. But of course it didn't start with the slackers. For hard-core critics, scriptural integrity has been eroding since reformers like Martin Luther insisted on translating the Latin Scriptures into the German vernacular.
The trend really got rolling in recent years, however, as Christianity became Big Business and churches looked for ways to improve their market share among an increasingly fickle audience. Easy-reading translations began to emerge, like the "Contemporary English Version" (1991). This was followed by "The Message" (1993), which has "no formal language" and no verse numbers that might remind the reader of the bad old days of Sunday School.
There have been any number of imitators since, including "The Light Speed Bible," recently out from Broadman & Holman, and Zondervan's "The Bible in 90 Days," aimed at getting the reader through the Scriptures as painlessly as possible. But purists have been appalled. "What's next?" griped a contributor to a BBC Web site. "Downloading sermons from iTunes?"
Actually, yes. "Godcasting," a religious version of the podcasting craze, uses iPods to deliver devotions and homilies. Next February, Zondervan is set to release an entire audio Bible that will be sold through Apple stores.
So is the end nigh? Perhaps not. Indeed, it could be argued that Christianity has been keeping it simple since Jesus stymied the Pharisees by synthesizing Jewish law in two precepts: love of God and love of neighbor. (That's Matthew 22:36-40 for owners of "The
100-Minute Bible," which cut that part.) A few centuries later, Saint Jerome produced the Vulgate version of the Bible, rendering high-toned Latin in a common form. Likewise, lay folk in the Middle Ages wanted to share in the devotions of cloistered monks and nuns, so they strung together 150 beads -- one each for the Psalms that the monastics chanted in a regular cycle -- and thus was born the Rosary. Similarly, the medieval Breviary was designed as a popular grab bag of Scripture, hymns and meditations that only later came to be viewed as a book reserved for clerics.While Protestants -- and especially, of late, evangelicals -- have become the most entrepreneurial modern proselytizers, Rome is eager to catch up. Vatican Radio has offered podcasts since July, and this month La Civiltà Cattolica, a Vatican-approved periodical, endorsed "Godcasting" and innovations like a Dutch priest's Internet "Praystation."
Given today's high levels of biblical illiteracy, any novelty would seem justifiable if it succeeds in familiarizing Christians with their own sacred texts and evangelizing those who don't know the Bible at all. Such outreach, though, will always entail shortcuts. One purpose of reading Scripture, for example, is devotional, entailing a contemplative or liturgical reflection on Bible passages in order to reach the heart and mind by way of the senses. Beautiful language is critical, and modern rewrites, such as the popular text message version of the Lord's Prayer -- "dad@hvn,urspshl" -- simply won't cut it.
But another purpose of Bible reading is didactic -- to teach the truths of the Scriptures. If such teaching must often be done these days in a plain way, so be it. The main problem here arises when the translator becomes unreliable. Last year, a Baptist minister in Britain, the Rev. John Henson, published "Good as New: A Radical Retelling of the Scriptures," in which he transformed a famous admonition of Paul's -- that those who could not remain celibate should get married -- into a suggestion that everyone "have a regular partner" for sex. Probably not quite what the apostle had in mind.
Still, in the effort to communicate the faith of the Scriptures it is worth taking a few chances. Perhaps some of the latest gimmicks -- putting speed at a premium -- will pique the sensus fidei enough to lure people into a deeper engagement with the full texts and thus with the life of faith. Those first 100 minutes can last for years.
Mr. Gibson is author of "The Coming Catholic Church" and is currently writing a book on Pope Benedict XVI.