Today I received an email from a major distributor of Christian books. They were emailing to advertise their extensive selection of bibles. The email was titled 'Your Bible, Your Choice' and included the following list of the different types of bible they sell:
By Translation
By Occasion
Favourite
Devotional
Study
Reference
Parallel
Audio
Spanish
Large Print
For Men
For Women
For Infants
For Children
For Tweens
For Families
For Academics
For Your Valentine
A visit to their website revealed this list only told part of the story. In fact you can choose your bible according to size, colour, season, or your favourite doctrine (I'm curious as to what a 'Spirit-filled life bible ' actually is).
I can't decide whether the fact that this makes me feel uncomfortable is a good thing or whether in actual fact I'm turning into a grumpy so-and-so.
Is the list above evidence of something fairly healthy (say, getting the word of God to as many people in as many ways as possible) or something rather more rancid (say, the adoption within evangelicalism of all that smells bad about individualism, consumerism and the worship of choice, and a me-centred desire to have even God Most High speak to me on my terms)?
Answers on a post-card (of your choice of colour, size, picture, message, gender, season...)
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4 comments:
We've come a long way from just being able to get a copy in a language you can understand... just a chance that things have gotten ridiculous.
Well, I know that I'm a grumpy young man. But with that qualifier in place, I do find this depressing. I've been troubled recently by the way consumerism has taken hold of my life in so many ways. I fear that, as you say, this is just one example of the way it has taken hold of evangelicalism more generally.
It also strikes me that this greater level of choice in bible version/edition coincides with shocking ignorance of bible-content even amongst evangelicals.
I misread 'Tweens' as 'Tweeds'. Presumably that would be the bible of choice for grumpy young men?
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