Faith & Spirituality

Bible Illuminated: Sneak Peak

As the owner of a site, I get the perk of reviewing books from time to time. Actually, I have 6 books in my queue to be read and/or reviewed. But since I have a personal finance focus, I generally just get business or finance-related books to read.

However, one of my publisher agents, Lisa Roe, runs other book ideas across my virtual desk in case I want to read and review them too. Recently, she asked if I wanted to participate in an advanced screening of a new version of the Bible called “Bible Illuminated: The Book“. It’s a “magazine-style” version of the New Testament books, with colorful photos and, best of all, all those verse and chapter notations removed.

It’s written in the “Good News Translation“, which is apparently written in more “everyday language” and is easier to read than classic versions. With any translation (even widely-accepted ones), you still have to be careful because often the translations don’t quite capture the intent of the original writings. It’s true for all Bible versions, but it’s a risk that must be accepted if you’re going to read the Bible.

While I’m a self-professed Christian, I’m also a Catholic which stereotypically means I don’t read the Bible (I have it read to me from the pulpet on Sundays). This is both a positive and a negative because while I’m a great candidate to surmise the usefulness of this new version, I have little experience and knowledge to use for comparison. But personally, I think if I can get into reading the Bible more because of this book, then perhaps my experience can help others to either examine their faith further, or, if you’re not Christian, to have an easier way to learn the Christian foundation (to make for more enlightened arguments 😉 )

The review is two-part. First, this post is to introduce you, the reader, to the book. I have received a PDF copy of the book already, but the full review (part two) won’t happen until I get the physical book in my hands. As for expectations of my review, I won’t be reviewing for correctness, as that’s really for scholars to review the Good News translation separately. I will instead be reviewing the book for completeness, usability, affordability and quality. I’ll make my recommendations based on whether I found the book useful for my own studies of my faith and whether I think it would be good for the general public compared to other, perhaps less expensive, versions of the Bible.

The book releases on October 28th, so I’ll be posting my full review before then.