As some of my readers may be aware, I am an ‘avid reader’ as the saying goes and a somewhat obsessive book collector. These last few years and certainly since the Plague times; I have become rather fixated on the acquisition of Bibles. Truly I am a Bibliophile in more than one sense of the word and that play on words amuses me no end.
Like many who may read and collect Bibles, I have particular favourite styles and translations. The King James Bible and the Revised Standard Version are classics of course. Examples are easily available and some quite reasonably priced. When it comes to more recent twentieth and twenty-first century publications, I have a particular penchant for the New English Bible and its updated edition the Revised English Bible. I think well of the English Standard Version and I am beginning to find my way around the New International Version.
Earlier this year I became aware of an American Bible being promoted and actively endorsed by the former President of the United States, Mr Donald Trump. This Bible is officially named the ‘God Bless the USA Bible’ but unsurprisingly, it has itself collected several other epithets. It is most commonly known by the remarkably descriptive sobriquet the ‘Trump Bible’ but I have also heard it referred to as the ‘Make America Great Again’ Bible. I suspect there may be more such colloquial embellishments but they are likely to be far from complementary. I am somewhat surprised that it hasn’t been labelled ‘Satan’s Bible’ but it all rather depends on ones political persuasion.
I was quite fascinated by a video on YouTube in which an American Pastor filmed his un-boxing of a copy sent to him. It was a most enlightening presentation and I was greatly surprised at what was depicted. For those of you unaware, this is a reprint of the traditional King James or Authorised Biblical text with an assortment of appended documents.
This ‘appendix’ includes the chorus to a song that I have never heard. This is same song that has given the Bible its name and it is written by a man I had never heard of before now. In order following the song are; the United States Constitution which includes rather ironically the Articles of Impeachment, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance.
None of these documents have any direct relevance to the Biblical text itself and are in point of fact, rather incongruous in their inclusion. I can only compare it to the possibility of a British publisher producing a King James Bible, with the text of the Magna Carta as an appendix. Yes, those who signed the Declaration of Independence; like those who signed the Magna Carta were all Christians but that is where any connection between the legal documents and the Biblical texts ends. It is all quite ridiculous and the entire contents of this Bible excluding the song lyric are public domain.
When I first became aware of this Bible it was priced at eighty United States Dollars, which equates to less than sixty-five British Pounds. It can be purchased from the official website for sixty United States Dollars, which is less than fifty British Pounds. This may represent a surprising price drop in the last few months but the higher price may have been that charged by book dealers in the USA. The details are unclear.
Whether it is eighty or sixty dollars, this is not a ‘cheap’ Bible. That asking price places it at the lower end of the premier or deluxe market. The Bible itself does not reflect the asking price, whether the higher or the lower. It is not leather-bound but comes in a synthetic, rubberised cover. I am mildly amused that the cover is itself, a light brown or tan colour. I shall refrain from any further comment on that coincidence.
Inside we discover that this is a red letter edition with the words of Christ shown in red. Otherwise the text is itself rather plain and the paper used is of middling quality. True the appendix is presented on a glossy paper but many handling this Bible have complained, as apparently these papers will stick together and sometimes tear. This is very poor.
This should in British Pounds be a ‘nine ninety-nine’ supermarket Bible (that’s less than fifteen US Dollars) but it is absolutely not a premier edition. It is therefore, a ‘cheap’ Bible in respects to quality and with all things considered, a very uninspiring presentation of the Word of God.
Daniel Bran Griffith - The Chattering Magpie 