People are more likely to read a glossy magazine format, than something too wordy. I've also bought a version of the Graphic bible. One of our Sunday school kids has a manga bible. I wish they would do the same for the Koran, make it more friendly and easy to read with lots of photos.Īs I'm an artist as well as a Christian, I like them. I'm a Methodist preacher and am very happy for the Bible to be presented in any way that enhances interest and understanding. I'm sorry Sharon, Croydon thinks it is sacrilege. A version that could achieve such figures in the UK would be one of the most surprising Bibles yet. The makers of the Bible Illuminated claim it has increased sales of Bibles by 50% in Sweden - though we are not told over what timescale. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this new wave of Bibles is how sympathetic the church is to people messing about with its sacred scriptures, whether in wording or binding, no doubt reasoning that there can be some good in anything that gets people hearing its stories.īut how successful these versions are at doing that is another question. The Bible Experience is one for the iPod generationĪnd for the iPod generation, you can get the whole thing on your MP3 player, read and performed by a Hollywood cast, including Forest Whitaker as Moses, Cuba Gooding Jr as Jonah, and a possibly typecast Samuel L Jackson as God. Though it is sometimes satirical or tongue-in-cheek, it is often used by churches and Sunday schools, and it's one of the versions that the Bible Society has welcomed as connecting people with the Bible in a new way. It started life in 2001 with stories from Genesis and today contains 391 stories with 4,214 illustrations. This less-than-reverent online version by Brendan Powell Smith tells stories from the Bible using Lego. This one got the seal of approval of Rowan Williams's predecessor George Carey, who grew up in London's East End, so must have known what he was rabbit and porking about.
The Lord's Prayer morphs from "For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory" to "You're the Boss, God, and will be for ever, innit?" In it, Jesus feeds "five thousand geezers" with "five loaves of Uncle Fred and two Lillian Gish". The rhyming slang version of the Bible was written by Mike Coles, an RE teacher in Stepney, and started life as stories he told to his classes. Here are some of the more unusual:įormer archbishop George Carey gave a thumbs up to the Cockney Bible If you're looking for an alternative way into the Bible, there's no shortage of versions to choose from. 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.
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." When printing was invented they were produced in Latin with pictures.
"At first the Bible was a collection of scrolls, then illustrated handwritten volumes. In the Middle Ages, picture books - with people in contemporary dress - were the way most people read the Bible. "You have to understand that what we think of as the traditional serious-looking leather-bound Bible is actually a relatively new format. The Brick Testament is not exactly reverent (picture courtesy of He, however, welcomes it with open arms.