The Bible can be stuffy — at least in the way it has traditionally been taught. Church can be stuffy; at least in the way it is presented. I understand this. Many possible congregants are lost, usually in the teen years, because of the tone and style of the traditional service. Others are lost, often within the teen years, because of the way the Bible is presented. When I was a teenager, too many years and follicles ago, a group of bright folks devised the Good News Bible. The language was modernized and it had funky little graphics. It was an attempt to get me to the Bible.
Of course, this has a long history. Whether the Vulgate, the King James', or the NRV, each and every translation of the Bible, in each and every language, has had the same goal. Never did a publisher or translator think, gee, I'd like to make this as obscure as possible for people to read. Each version of the Bible is a democratic manifesto, a reaching out to each and every human being on the planet, whether they speak Croatian or Klingon.
So, it is with this democratization in mind that I picked up Revolve and Refuel, two very modern New Testaments aimed at, in order, teenaged girls and teenaged boys. Despite my open mindedness I found them a bit too rad for my taste. I set them aside for a while, and picked them up again. The publishers of this Bible did their market research and found teens don't read the Bible because "it is too big and too freaky". But, they do read magazines.
Revolve — The Complete New Testament looks like a teenage girl magazine. There are three prosperous, smiling, healthy young women on the cover, sharing space with blaring headlines, typical of fashion mags: "Are You Dating a Godly Guy?" and, "Beauty Secrets You've Never Heard Before".
Of the latter, let me give you a couple of examples. This Bible is filled with sidebars — little boxes mixed in with scripture — that are meant to liven the text. Beauty Secrets is a regular feature. "Chug that water down and you'll notice a remarkable difference in the way that you feel. But don't wait until you're feeling thirsty. That means you're already dehydrated. Keep this in mind when you're feeling a little low on God. Jesus is our living water: we'll never get thirsty after tasting him." A photograph of a glowing young woman illuminates this advice. (They're everywhere in this version. In the boys' version there are peachy chinned toothy young men. This is a very American publication.)
Another Beauty Secret? "Looking for ways to stay in shape? How about incorporating a compassionate heart into your workout? Do a car wash for charity. Paint a house of someone less fortunate than yourself."
That's a lot of good intention. Both of these secrets are found within the text for Romans. So, as Paul advises, "You think you are a guide for the blind and a light for those who are in darkness," there is a beauty tip about helping others. Some may find the pictures a little to sexy, but that's their problem. This is healthy, suburban, hip, and active representation of youth; much like a J. Crew or Tommy Hilfiger catalogue.
Pop culture and Christianity make awkward partners and something has to give. Perhaps its my well socialized Presbyterian stuffiness, but even I, an aficionado of pop culture, have difficulty thinking of Eminem and Gwen Stefani as people of influence, as they are called in a sidebar in this glossy Bible. On a list of Top Ten Random Things to Pray For, family comes first, underprivileged people are fourth, celebrities are seventh and your future spouse and future children are ninth and tenth.
The last two items give a hint to this Bible's evangelical roots. Evangelicals are generally more relaxed with traditions. (They tend to be more theologically conservative but ritually liberal than mainline churches.) They are more intent to get the message out than to worry about the form of its presentation. But the conservatism seeps through — the girls' Bible-mag is about makeup and relationships and shopping; the boys' version is about "girls, cash and cars". There is embedded, via the magazine style sidebars, within the truly subversive words of the gospels a very safe and clichéd expression of gender roles.
But, there's my mainline stuffiness again. It's not as if my church and I are freely embracing the Bible's message. I have the mainliner's gene for eschewing the new and the fanciful. I really must overcome that, because, if nothing else, Revolve and Refuel are very good looking Bibles. And that's something, at least.
