The A-Team Blog :: Poetry/Scripture/Liturgy/Etc.

Well, for those of you who've decided that it's OK to lust after appreciate high quality Bibles, Mark Bertrand over at BibleDesignBlog.com has posted his extensive review of Cambridge's new Pitt Minion ESV. Here's an excerpt:

"What I love about the ESV is the way it splits the difference between the traditional language I grew up with and the need for clarity and comprehension today. No translation is perfect, but this one has served me pretty well the past few years. In the beginning, there were so few options, and now we're spoiled for choices. In a sense, the Pitt Minion is a great vehicle for the ESV, because it represents a similar attempt at compromise. No, it doesn't have the largest type, and it doesn't have the most features, but for all around use, it cheats out the competition more often than not. It's small enough to carry, full-featured enough to use, and does one thing better than any other leather-bound edition I've reviewed: it opens flat like it really wants to stay that way. And Cambridge has made it available in an unprecedented range of cover options."

Read the rest of Mark's review here.

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Tuesday, October 14

Are "Nice Bibles" Un-Christian?

by David N on Tue 14 Oct 2008 12:31 AM PDT

For those of you who don't know yet, Cambridge Bibles (pretty much the best Bible maker in the world!) is about to release their very first edition of the ESV. The edition is a familiar one in other translations: the Pitt Minion. It's a small, hand-sized Bible with a center reference column. The type size is large and clear for such a small Bible. But the best part: it comes bound in beautiful, supple goatskin leather (of course, you'll have to pay a bit more for that!). The goatskin will be available in both black and brown, as well as a burgundy French Morocco leather and a two-tone imitation leather (see all 4 side-by-side in the image below). The nice thing about goatskin (besides the way it feels) is that it's extremely pliable and durable. So if you decide to spend the extra cash, it's well worth it, as you're likely to be keeping the Bible around for many more years to come.

I used to be your average Bible consumer. All of my Bibles were bonded leather. My first ESV was "tru-tone" (basically just imitation leather). Then I found this site. Ever since I first read the insightful aesthetic comments of J. Mark Bertand, I have been a "Bible snob." Unfortunately I am also a "poor graduate student", so that means I'm still using bonded leather bibles. However, when I learned of Cambridge's plan to release an ESV, I decided to save up and spring for my first really nice Bible. Mark will be reviewing all four editions of the Cambridge Pitt Minion ESV some time next week, so make sure to check back for that (in the mean time, browse his blog. He's probably written something witty and interesting about your Bible!).

Now that I've admitted to buying one of these expensive things, I have a question for you (and I'm a philosopher who probably overthinks things, so you can take this or leave it). I've found there to be something of a paradoxical conundrum to the "nice Bible." On the one hand, I can see how it would be far more worthy to spend $80 on a Bible than on useless junk I don't need. And further, buying a Bible that has obviously taken great skill and care to make seems to say something about how important God's Word is to you. But is there something all too modern and Western about the "Cambridge goatskin Bible" market? After all, the words are the words. I can be spiritually fed just as well by a paperback Bible, and give the other $70 to my church, or to a homeless shelter. Then again, is there something about that very sentiment that is equally "modern" and "Western"? Can anything be said for a Bible that is, in itself, a work of art?

So what do you think? Am I still a good Christian? :P