“Biblezines come from contemporary culture ”” what attracts kids,” Artl says, referring to research that includes focus groups. “Are they going to carry around a black leather Holy Bible or will they be more apt in their peer group to carry around a Biblezine? … As it turns out, that worked out very well.”
In theory, that’s a noble idea, says Stephen Chapman, a Duke Divinity School religion professor.
“It’s part of a well-intentioned effort to get the Bible out to people,” Chapman says. “But when the emphasis becomes so much on marketing, the Bible becomes just another commodity in the marketplace and this practice can reinforce a kind of commercialism that is in a deep sense at odds with a lot of what the Bible is trying to communicate.”
On one hand, he says, Biblezines like “Revolve” are great if it’s getting the targeted audience of young girls to read the Bible. But beauty tips and advice about boyfriends? Others are aimed at young boys.
“None of these things is bad but it’s a question in my mind about whether it belongs in the Bible,” Chapman says. “The danger is it can trivialize what Christians and Jews and others would see as a sacred text.”
A personal dislike of Chapman’s is a translation that personalizes biblical text ”” the 23rd Psalm’s “The Lord is my shepherd,” would be, “The Lord is Mike’s shepherd.”
“That just seems so extreme to me ”¦ it would be laughable if it wasn’t so extreme.”
I have made a concentrated effort to keep this garbage out of the hands of our youth.
The biblezines profane the Sacred Scriptures by boiling them down to dating tips and conventional morality. If we are going to put the Scriptures in the hands of youth at all, we must do so with a sense of reverence and awe.
My concern is that they will be treated like magazines, that is, how soon before they are tossed into the recycling bin with last months’ ‘Seventeen’? ‘No way to treat the Word of God, written.
Back in “the day”, there were indeed Bible “comic books”.
But, they pretty much stuck to the bible story, and had wonderful pictures. These were actully a bit like Sunday School Stories.
Frankly, I saw nothing ‘wrong” with them.. Kids did take to the stories.
However, if there were any “ads”, they were for cereal and such. LOL
My oldest dd has one of these, courtesy of her Aunt and Uncle. But when it comes to doing her Bible Study, she grabs her Student Reference NIV. In fact that is the edition she chose to take to camp with her this week.
The biblezine is fine for the most part–in our home it has generated many discussions, which with a teen is always a good thing.
Grandmother–I remember those Bible comic books–used to love them as a child. Now my nephew loves Bibleman. Going around, coming around…
Anyone remember “The Prayer of Jabez” and the marketing campaign…or should I say “testimonial” used to hype sales. I remember listening to the author on Focus on the Family. One would have thought they hit the spiritual mother lode. Just read this prayer and… I go back to Mark Noll’s assessment of the evangelical mind…there is none. This is but another example.
Here’s a link to a Christianity Today article about the Biblezines:
http://www.ctlibrary.com/10918 about the Girl’s biblezine
http://www.ctlibrary.com/38144 about a Rap biblezine
Both of these are article previews–you need to subscribe to CT to view the whole article.