* * *
Okay. My act of rebellion.
First of all, please please don't think me a horrible, snobbish elitist for this. I really don't mean to be or want to be. I just have to work out my convictions in an active way, or I can't live with myself.
So here it is. Hope you like to read.
Point 1: I'm very uncomfortable with the consumerism that runs rampant in American Evangelical Christianity. We have constructed a "Christianized" version of secular society, with our bad pop music and tee shirts and movies and romance novels and kitschy nick-nacks and so on that, to me, is nothing more than a cheesy plastic rendition of the culture we claim to hate. Evangelical Christians as a whole have sat back and allowed corporate America to dictate to us what our subculture should look like—what we should wear, listen to, read, hang on our walls, whatever.
Point 2: One of the things we've allowed corporate America to take over is our Bible. Our sacred text has been processed, packaged, and sold to us as a "meaning-added" product (similar to how our "food" is now a processed, packaged, value-added product!). There are Bibles for women (usually pink), for men, for teens, for the elderly, for children, for infants (!), for conservatives, for liberals, for soldiers, for skaters, for farmers, for intellectuals, for anti-intellectuals, for science lovers, for science haters, for the super literate, for the anti-literate, for wannabe archaeologists, for teachers, for lovers, for friends, and on, and on, and on. And along the way we've believed the lie that buying these "enhanced" Bible-products will add meaning and depth to our devotion to and life before God. So we buy them. And buy them. And fill our houses with them. And we're still empty.
Point 3: Many, many of these Bible-products, which say things like "Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood" and "The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor; the wicked does not understand such concern" and "Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless" are printed and bound in second- and third-world sweatshops by destitute people working for pennies. This makes me ill.
Point 4: For several reasons, the translation I prefer is the NRSV. However, conservative Evangelical Christians are the target demographic for nicely bound Bibles, and conservative Evangelical Christians hate the NRSV (because it uses inclusive language and good, literary-quality English and was prepared by an ecumenical translation committee—two reasons I like it so much).
So.
I bought a used, 20-year-old NRSV pew Bible for $15. It was printed and bound in the USA by Oxford University Press. It is entirely uninterpretive (in that it has no paragraph headings—you know, "Jesus Heals a Paralytic" or "Paul Teaches about Love.") The text is divided by chapter and verse numbers only. It also has no cross references. It has an elegant, classy typeface and its high-quality paper has taken on a creamy, aged tint. And it smells like old book.
I'm taking it to a local artist who does custom book binding, really beautiful work, and I'm having it bound in a cruelty-free leather.
Then, I'm donating every other Bible I have to some organization that gives English Bibles to poor or oppressed people.
And here it is. My act of rebellion.
First of all, please please don't think me a horrible, snobbish elitist for this. I really don't mean to be or want to be. I just have to work out my convictions in an active way, or I can't live with myself.
So here it is. Hope you like to read.
Point 1: I'm very uncomfortable with the consumerism that runs rampant in American Evangelical Christianity. We have constructed a "Christianized" version of secular society, with our bad pop music and tee shirts and movies and romance novels and kitschy nick-nacks and so on that, to me, is nothing more than a cheesy plastic rendition of the culture we claim to hate. Evangelical Christians as a whole have sat back and allowed corporate America to dictate to us what our subculture should look like—what we should wear, listen to, read, hang on our walls, whatever.
Point 2: One of the things we've allowed corporate America to take over is our Bible. Our sacred text has been processed, packaged, and sold to us as a "meaning-added" product (similar to how our "food" is now a processed, packaged, value-added product!). There are Bibles for women (usually pink), for men, for teens, for the elderly, for children, for infants (!), for conservatives, for liberals, for soldiers, for skaters, for farmers, for intellectuals, for anti-intellectuals, for science lovers, for science haters, for the super literate, for the anti-literate, for wannabe archaeologists, for teachers, for lovers, for friends, and on, and on, and on. And along the way we've believed the lie that buying these "enhanced" Bible-products will add meaning and depth to our devotion to and life before God. So we buy them. And buy them. And fill our houses with them. And we're still empty.
Point 3: Many, many of these Bible-products, which say things like "Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood" and "The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor; the wicked does not understand such concern" and "Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless" are printed and bound in second- and third-world sweatshops by destitute people working for pennies. This makes me ill.
Point 4: For several reasons, the translation I prefer is the NRSV. However, conservative Evangelical Christians are the target demographic for nicely bound Bibles, and conservative Evangelical Christians hate the NRSV (because it uses inclusive language and good, literary-quality English and was prepared by an ecumenical translation committee—two reasons I like it so much).
So.
I bought a used, 20-year-old NRSV pew Bible for $15. It was printed and bound in the USA by Oxford University Press. It is entirely uninterpretive (in that it has no paragraph headings—you know, "Jesus Heals a Paralytic" or "Paul Teaches about Love.") The text is divided by chapter and verse numbers only. It also has no cross references. It has an elegant, classy typeface and its high-quality paper has taken on a creamy, aged tint. And it smells like old book.
I'm taking it to a local artist who does custom book binding, really beautiful work, and I'm having it bound in a cruelty-free leather.
Then, I'm donating every other Bible I have to some organization that gives English Bibles to poor or oppressed people.
And here it is. My act of rebellion.
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