THE BIBLE ACCORDING TO THE NEW YORKER

In the Dec. 18 edition of The New Yorker, there’s an article by Daniel Radosh about the Bible-publishing business that should not be missed. You can read all of it HERE.

One passage in particular caught my eye and I’m still gnawing on it like a rawhide bone. It’s a quote from Phyllis Tickle, the author, former religion editor at Publisher’s Weekly, and contributor to Nelson’s new emergent-oriented Bible paraphrase, The Voice. Tickle is responding to the myriad (seemingly) Bible translations and niche Bible options available on the American market (in particular) today.

She says:

“. . . instead of demanding that the believer, the reader, the seeker step out from the culture and become more Christian, more enclosed within ecclesial definition, we’re saying, ‘You stay in the culture and we’ll come to you.’ And, therefore, how are we going to separate out the culturally transient and trashy from the eternal?”

I guess my question is: Do you need to try to separate the two? Won’t the difference, if there is one, prove out over time?

I’m still chewing on what she said. Provocative stuff.

Also, as an aside, the NYer article mentions that Nelson is in the midst of producing a new audio Bible to compete with Zondervan’s new Bible Experience with Jim Cavizel reprising his role as Jesus and Jason “George Costanza” Alexander as an unidentified character from the Hebrew Scriptures.

So, who do you think Alexander is playing?
Moses?
Noah?
Job?