The Green Bible

There are so many different Bibles that are published these days, not only different translations but also Bibles incorporating various comments, helps and study guides. This is not something new. Even before the King James Bible was produced, one of the reasons the English authorities did not like the 'Geneva Bible' was because of the explanatory comments and footnotes. In our time, buying a King James Bible (AV) might mean obtaining a smart looking white Bible to be carried at a wedding, with no notes or helps and print too small to read. Or it might mean a book with Scofield notes, or a Thompson Chain Bible. Even a perfectly ordinary black Bible, with a leather cover and reasonably large print and published by Oxford University Press might be found to have a system of references, a concordance, a subject index, maps, and a tiny summary at the head of each chapter to say what it was about (if you could agree with what the reverend editor was saying). Children's Bibles range from picture Bibles with the stories simply retold and whole chunks left out, to the 'Kid's Life Application Bible' which is a complete text with comments and questions intended to provoke young people into serious thought about what having faith means to them. So, in this day of environmental concerns, it was not really a surprise to come upon the Green Bible (published HarperCollins, 2008).

The 'Green Bible' is similar in one way to the 'Red Letter' Bible, which has been about for a long time. The red letter Bible highlights the actual words of Jesus by printing them in red, so that they stand out. The Green Bible aims to pick out passages of scripture relevant to the environment, and prints them in green. Unfortunately green ink does not stand out like red ink, and so the passages 'highlighted' are, for those with failing eyesight, more difficult to read than the ordinary black print. A further problem is that, while it is fairly easy for editors of the red letter Bible to identify Jesus' actual words in the New Testament (apart from some passages in John's gospel where it is difficult to decide where Jesus' reported words end and John's comment begins), to decide which passages should be highlighted because of relevance to 'green' issues is far more difficult. It is a matter of personal judgment, and one can imagine some very interesting discussions among the editorial team when the text was being prepared for publication.

There are in fact four criteria which they have applied. A text may have been selected because it shows (i) how God and Jesus interact with all creation and care for it and are intimately involved, or (ii) how all the elements of creation, land, water, air, plants, animals, human beings, are interdependent, or (iii) how nature responds to God, or (iv) how we are called to care for creation.

How successful the editors are in their choice a reader must decide. It is sometimes difficult to see why certain texts are included and others omitted. For example, the Lord's Prayer as recorded in Luke 11 is not given green status at all, but when it appears in Matthew 6, there is green print for 'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.' In Romans 8 it is reassuring to find the words highlighted:

'I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.'

It takes a little more thought to see why, among all the rest of that marvellous chapter, it is only verse 9 that is selected as specially 'green': 'But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.' Perhaps the underlying 'green' thought is that a renewed earth needs renewed men and women to care for it?

The version of Scripture used in the Green Bible is the NRSV (1989), which has a good reputation among scholars. As for 'helps', as well as a normal concordance there is a 'Green Subject Index' - this might be more helpful than the highlighting itself in the study of environmental themes in scripture. The 'Green Bible Trail' is an outline with questions on selected scriptures, especially suitable for group study, in six sections, and incorporating suggestions for green behaviour in daily life.

The volume begins with a collection of essays. The topics are: Reading the Bible through a Green Lens; Peace with God the Creator, Peace with all of Creation; Why I am Green; Creation Theology— a Jewish perspective; Knowing our Place on Earth - learning our responsibility from the Old Testament; Jesus is Coming - plant a Tree!; The Dominion of Love; Loving the Earth is Loving the Poor; Teachings on Creation through the Ages. This list gives an idea of what is covered, not that everyone will want to study these essays.

At a time when the environment and climate change is a subject of wide concern, it is good, through this publication, to be reminded of God's will and purpose for the earth. While we look to the future and pray 'Thy kingdom come', we who believe are already living in the spirit of that kingdom and so we do good to all men as we have opportunity.