23 February 2009

The Green Bible




Not long ago Harper Collins released The Green Bible. This version puts a spin on "red letter" Bibles which have the words attributed to Christ in red. In The Green Bible passages that speak of God's care for creation or include material about the human mandate to care for creation are printed in green. But that's not all The Green Bible offers.

First, it is printed in an eco-friendly way with recycled paper, soy-based inks, and has a natural, cotton/linen cover. Second, there are additional resources about creation care throughout the Bible including a green subject index, The Green Bible Trail Guide - a series of studies based on God's care for creation to be used for personal devotion or group study, and a resource guide to offer advice for one's next steps in caring for creation. Finally, the best feature might be the various essays from contributors such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Brian McLaren, Ellen Davis, N. T. Wright, and Barbara Brown Taylor (to name a few). These contributors approach the issue of creation care from their particular disciplines. One sees a sample of the many different angles from which environmental stewardship can be pursued.

I'll admit I have wondered about some of the passages that are green and equally some that are not. For instance, Jonah is my favorite book in the Old Testament, and I would argue the last line should certainly be green as it conveys God's care even for the animals in Nineveh. But no resource is perfect, and a rationale is given for the selection of the passages which makes pretty good sense. I was pleased that the cover page has the quotation of Genesis 1:31, which I selected as my profile quotation for this page.

If you want to find out more about The Green Bible, go to http://greenletterbible.com/