Why would you do that? (Part 1)
Why would you do that?
Part 1: Changing the way the Bible looks
The two thousand year trend in the Bible world has been the slow and steady accumulation of additives. Scribes added notes in the margins. Longer texts were split apart. Eventually chapter divisions were added, then assigned numbers. Even later, numbered verse markings were inserted. Section headings, cross-references and footnotes followed. Very late in the Bible’s history the words of Jesus were painted red. Most recent is the development of “side bars” or colorful mini-commentaries planted in and around the Bible text. It is important to know that all of these additives are, of course, neither original nor natural.
The big idea at the heart of The Books of The Bible project is that visual presentation makes a big difference, for good or ill. For a long time all the attention has been focused on translation and on what we call “Bible helps.” What has been neglected is the huge role played in Bible reading by the way the words look on the page—the way they are collected and arranged, spaced and sized, divided and numbered. These visual cues exert their influence powerfully, but often unconsciously. We think we’re just reading the words. But what we take in, and how, is shaped in all kinds of ways by these cues.
It’s time we stopped to think about how all these additives actually influence our reading of Scripture. What reading (or nonreading) habits have we developed because of the additives? We’ll be looking at examples of the influence of specific additives in future blogs. The point here is just that what we see on the page—the numbers, indents, space, color, columns and distractions—all matter. Communication is a complicated, multisensory event. Bible publishers obviously don’t, can’t and shouldn’t control all the factors that go into what happens when a reader sits down with a sacred text and attempts to take it in. But some of the factors that Bible publishers do control have not been thoughtfully considered.
If Bible engagement, not just Bible sales and distribution, is the real goal, then these issues have to be taken seriously. What do we want to happen when someone reads a Bible? What, really, do we expect to happen when someone opens the Bibles that are actually produced these days? What does the reader see when they open these Bibles? How is their experience shaped, directed, or even dictated by what they see?
Church councils and professional theologians are not the ones who imposed these various foreign structures and additives on the Bible. Most of it was done by Bible copyists, printers and publishers. For our part, we believe it’s past time for the additives to come out.
Coming next time: Why would you do that? Part 2: De-Versify!
Part 1: Changing the way the Bible looks
The two thousand year trend in the Bible world has been the slow and steady accumulation of additives. Scribes added notes in the margins. Longer texts were split apart. Eventually chapter divisions were added, then assigned numbers. Even later, numbered verse markings were inserted. Section headings, cross-references and footnotes followed. Very late in the Bible’s history the words of Jesus were painted red. Most recent is the development of “side bars” or colorful mini-commentaries planted in and around the Bible text. It is important to know that all of these additives are, of course, neither original nor natural.
The big idea at the heart of The Books of The Bible project is that visual presentation makes a big difference, for good or ill. For a long time all the attention has been focused on translation and on what we call “Bible helps.” What has been neglected is the huge role played in Bible reading by the way the words look on the page—the way they are collected and arranged, spaced and sized, divided and numbered. These visual cues exert their influence powerfully, but often unconsciously. We think we’re just reading the words. But what we take in, and how, is shaped in all kinds of ways by these cues.
It’s time we stopped to think about how all these additives actually influence our reading of Scripture. What reading (or nonreading) habits have we developed because of the additives? We’ll be looking at examples of the influence of specific additives in future blogs. The point here is just that what we see on the page—the numbers, indents, space, color, columns and distractions—all matter. Communication is a complicated, multisensory event. Bible publishers obviously don’t, can’t and shouldn’t control all the factors that go into what happens when a reader sits down with a sacred text and attempts to take it in. But some of the factors that Bible publishers do control have not been thoughtfully considered.
If Bible engagement, not just Bible sales and distribution, is the real goal, then these issues have to be taken seriously. What do we want to happen when someone reads a Bible? What, really, do we expect to happen when someone opens the Bibles that are actually produced these days? What does the reader see when they open these Bibles? How is their experience shaped, directed, or even dictated by what they see?
Church councils and professional theologians are not the ones who imposed these various foreign structures and additives on the Bible. Most of it was done by Bible copyists, printers and publishers. For our part, we believe it’s past time for the additives to come out.
Coming next time: Why would you do that? Part 2: De-Versify!
3 Comments:
Glenn, welcome to blogging about TBOTB. I'm looking forward to its release to the public. I invite you to visit our TNIV Truth blog.
Greetings Glenn.
I have a question.
At
http://thebooksofthebible.info/resources/qa/list.php#COMPLETE
there's a statement: "footnotes, section headings and any other nonoriginal material have been removed from the text (translators’ notes are placed at the end of each book);".
How is Mark 16:9-20 presented in the "Books of the Bible"? Is it included as part of the text of the Gospel of Mark?
Great question James,
We followed the TNIV translators specifications for setting the end of Mark (and also the story of the woman caught in adultery in John): Smaller, italic type. Those are the only two places where extra biblical material appears on the same page as the Scripture text.
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