The Green Bible
October 7, 2008 at 12:00 am | In books, environment, theology | 8 CommentsTags: Christian Bookstore, christianity, climate crisis, creation and ecology, environment, Green Bible, HarperCollins, new green bible, The Green Bible, Time Magazine
Today, Oct 7, HarperCollins released “The Green Bible.” According to Time’s David Van Bierma, the Bible is
a Scripture for the Prius age that calls attention to more than 1,000 verses related to nature by printing them in a pleasant shade of forest green, much as red-letter editions of the Bible encrimson the words of Jesus. The new version’s message, states an introduction by Evangelical eco-activist J. Matthew Sleeth, is that “creation care”–the Christian catchphrase for nature conservancy–”is at the very core of our Christian walk.”
I heard about this idea more than a year ago, and I have to say it’s really grown on me (pun intended 
) I’d love to get my hands on a copy and read the accompanying essays by NT Wright, Desmond Tutu, and JP II.
In my Creation, New Creation, and Ecology class this week, we’re focusing on New Testament passages. Tomorrow we consider the Green sermon on the mount in Matthew, and Monday we looked at three hymns (or early creeds) and considered their creation-care implications.
Colossians 1:15-20 confesses Jesus Christ as the firstborn of all creation, noting that “in him all things in heaven and on earth were created.” That claim is clear, corporate, and enormous. Christians aren’t just individual souls, but part of God’s whole creation created through Christ and for Christ.
1 Timothy 3:16 plays with the notion and mystery of Christ’s revelation affecting all things both spiritual and practical, fleshly and earthly.
And of course, Philippians 2:6-11 sings Jesus is Lord over all the earth, even and especially creation and all that ecological stuff.
I’ll be interested to see what 1,000 verses of the NRSV HarperCollins decided to green. It’d be a really tough choice, actually. The financial/ecological destruction in Revelation may get overlooked. I wonder to what extent baptism and the Lord’s Supper are considered green? And, certainly, many of the plagues are ecologically oriented?
If the earth and all that is in it is the Lord’s, and the Bible is the book for God’s people, seems to me like every jot and tittle has to do with creation and ecology. But what do I know?
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I bought one before the release date. I guess the bookstore didn’t mind putting one out on the floor.
The essays are thoughtful and informative and stay within the Reformed branch of thought. One of the things I enjoy about the Green Bible is that while its focus is on environmental responsibility – it does not bombard the scriptural text with devotional thoughts or boxes. Instead you get the NRSV text, beautifully laid out and easy to read, with no interruptions. I have to say that it took me a day or two to get used to the green highlight. As well, it is fun to read old favorite or familiar passages and see why the editors felt they deserved to be highlighted in green. My only critique is that some of the passage could not from an exegetical standpoint be talking about environmental concerns – so use your discretion and theological understanding.
Comment by Oscar — October 7, 2008 #
Thanks for the good words, Oscar. Makes me even more interested. I imagine it really would color some old texts we hadn’t considered green before. It does bring up some interesting questions in general, however. I wonder what a “love bible” would look like? How many verses would be deemed red for love?
Comment by adamjcopeland — October 7, 2008 #
Haha….seriously, we are two (too!) similar Time magazine readers. I, again, was putting together a post about this after reading about it just yesterday. And you, again, got there first. This is hilarious.
Comment by melissa — October 7, 2008 #
Wouldn’t help if I told you we have two copies here at our house….would it?
Comment by adamcleaveland — October 8, 2008 #
my guess is that I’m not gonna find a copy of this at my local family christian store.
Comment by jim — October 8, 2008 #
Interesting point, Jim. I do wonder. Anyone out there seen one at a Christian Bookstore? I’ll be posting a more detailed post at some point in the future because HarperCollins just emailed and said they’d love send me one. Love this blog stuff! So more later….
Comment by adamjcopeland — October 8, 2008 #
Hi, my name is Dustin and I work with a Christian environmental organization called Christians in Conservation: A Rocha USA. I noticed that you mentioned Dr. Matthew Sleeth in your post, and I thought that you might like to know that our organization sponsors him as a “creation care evangelist.” We would love for you to check us out at our website, en.arocha.org/usa. You might also be interested the website for Dr. Sleeth’s book “Serve God, Save the Planet,” which can be found at http://www.servegodsavetheplanet.org.
Comment by Dustin F — October 20, 2008 #
It’s sort of sad that Christians to whom the earth has been entrusted are so often categorized as being enviornmentaly unfriendly. (or at best disinterested) I own a small Christian bookstore in CT – and although I received advertising from the publisher, I don’t have one of these bibles on the shelf – nor have I had any orders for one. Might just need time to catch on. My motto is: the earth is not my mother, it is my inheritance. Makes me think about how I handle what I’ve been given.
Comment by Chris — December 31, 2008 #