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The Bible Updated

The Daily Telegraph reports that an Anglican clergyman has updated a number of Bible stories; writing them from the point of view of an unbeliever and adding details that would make it easier for modern youth to relate to it.

he Must Know Stories, written by the Rev Robert Harrison, feature a reworking of the top ten Bible stories, which were chosen in a poll by the Christian charity Scripture Union.

In the book, the tale of David and Goliath is retold from the perspective of the giant, portrayed as a “depressed alcoholic” who is hung over on the day of his fateful encounter with David.

The story of the Garden of Eden is retold from the point of view of Adam, who revels in Eve’s “beautiful body” and in the nativity tale, Jesus is born in an overcrowded house instead of a stable, amid family conflict as Joseph’s aunt deals with the fact that he and Mary are not married.

Apparently the author’s aim is to preserve the stories, which because of society’s reluctance to talk about religion, are being lost to the next generation.

While the aim is laudable, I’m not entirely sure that this is the best way to go about ensuring that a Christian heritage will be passed on in future. I tend to think that lives of service, that live out the Bible in our communities are much more likely to motivate people to read the Scriptures than this sort of updating of the text.  To some extent this is born out by the comments on this discussion page from the Telegraph where people give their thoughts on the Bible. Don’t read it if you can’t handle criticism!

 We need better living advertisements for the Book.

One reply on “The Bible Updated”

See also the extract posted by Joanna Sugden on Ruth Gledhill’s blog. I found it beautiful, well worthwhile as a project on the same lines as children’s Bible stories which are creative retellings of the original. If there is a place for films of Jesus’ life and death, such as Mel Gibson’s and the recent BBC versions of the Passion, then surely there is a place for their equivalent in written form. But I was upset (see my comment) at the way Joanna cheapened this beauty with words like “sexes up” and “Adam couldn’t get enough of the naked Eve.”

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