Bible
The Bible with Sources Revealed was put together by Richard Friedman. I say, “put together” because this is not a Bible translation, per se. Friedman took the first five books of the Bible and colour-coded them according to the Documentary Hypothesis.
If none of that makes sense to you, here’s the break down. A number of years ago many theologians, most notably Julius Wellhausen, believed they had discovered in the first five books of the Bible a number of different voices from different time periods. Specifically, they found four major time periods and four voices: the Yahwist from the kingdom of Judah, the Elohist from the kingdom of Israel, the Deuteronomist from the Reformist period and the Priestly from the Kohen period of exile. As the hypothesis goes, a fifth source called the “Redactor” or editor(s) then compiled the different sources into the five books we know today.
Enter Friedman. Friedman has published a version of the first five books of the Bible in which a different colour represents each of the four sources and black is used for the Redactor. While we must remember that this is one man’s version of a theory where there is much disagreement, Friedman has done something very interesting. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re a bibliophile I have a feeling this will be on your wish list.
http://www.amazon.com/Wrote-Bible-Richard-Elliott-Friedman/dp/0060630353
Communion
The Lord’s Supper is sacred. It is a holy mystery. It is somber but joyful. It is us lifted up into His presence. And it is a gift of God. So let’s celebrate it as often as we can with as many people as we can. Let’s get on board with the “new things” God was talking about in Isaiah. Let’s do Twitter communion.
In fact, Rev. Tim Ross, a Methodist minister in the U.K., did just that. He was looking to create a “worldwide” communion service. Christians from around the globe were asked to prepare their own bread and wine and partake in communion over their cell phones by way of “tweets.” Tim wanted to encourage unity in the Christian faith and said “anyone can join.” Maybe we should.
Say what you will, but the General Assembly approved the use of technologies in communion services just last year. I think I’m going to do one myself … and I think I’ll invite the whole city to join me. Oh, just one problem. Presbyterians don’t technically have an open communion. Oh well, all baptized people in the city then. Does that work?
ship-of-fools.com/features/2010/holy_communion_in_six_tweets.html
Music
David Crowder was a Christian worship band leader at a large church in Waco, Texas. He put out nearly 10 albums, toured a bit and and worked at youth conferences and the like. But lately he’s everywhere. He’s playing rock clubs, not Christian clubs but rock clubs… lots of them. He’s also all over Facebook and YouTube. Why? Well, he’s started doing old-timey gospel music with banjos, mandolins, fiddles, acoustic guitar and an upright bass. In Crowder’s own words, “it looks like the Appalachian Mountains exploded.” And people love it. So Crowder goes to a rock club and sings songs about Jesus and kids with no religious background whatsoever sing along with him in droves. It’s defying explanation. And … it’s awesome. It’s kitche, its Americana, its Jesus. Somebody buy me a ticket to the show.
youtube.com and crowdermusic.com.
