The Bible and Sonny Bono

Front-line bookselling is, in the Confucian formulation, “interesting,” to say the least. Today I received a call from a woman asking, “Do you know anything about this ‘Bible Illuminated?’”

In that I rarely want to admit that I don’t know everything, I stalled as I began to search my databases for more information. While I was giving my “delay” spiel, the caller made sure to let me know that she had no intention of buying or ordering the book from me – she just wanted to know if I was familiar with it.

By this time, I had the information up on my screen and said, “Is this the Swedish book?” She replied, “YES….”

Swedish publisher Dag Söderberg, unhappy with other contemporary offerings of the New Testament, commissioned the publication of a glossy magazine version of the Gospels, Epistles, etc. and elected to use a variety of contemporary and celebrity photos to accompany the book.

This is not unique nor original. I’ve sold a few (very few) contemporary, magazine-like bibles. Yawn. It has been done, but it’s a gimmick that succeeds only as a grandma-to-grandson kind of gift. Söderberg says he found other attempts to be lacking, so he offered up Bible Illuminated, a $35 bible.

But this post is not about the bible. It’s about the call.

Byron Crawford, columnist for Louisville’s Courier-Journal, a Gannett newspaper, shined the light on the bible, to mostly gentle reaction. Except for my caller.

Now that I was up to speed on her topic of the day, she proceeded to tell me that these heathens had included pictures of Sonny Bono and other celebrities and it was time to draw the line and suppress this book/bible. She wanted to be assured that my independent bookstore would not be offering this bible to the public.

I told the lady that while I had not sold the book, I most assuredly would be selling it…only to hear “You will????”

P.S. It turns out that in a sidebar to the magazine, where the Gospels talk about serving humanity, an illustrated list of humanitarian activists is provided. It includes U2’s Bono. Not Sonny Bono.

In Indiana, we have enough actual censorship that it’s important that we provide a place where people can learn for themselves. Our store motto is “There’s no idea that’s as dangerous as ignorance.” I’ve literally never run across a book that was “too dangerous.” And despite this flareup of misunderstanding but active intolerance, I’ll continue to make books available regardless of public clamor to suppress them.

Incidentally, without actually having seen the book, my first instinct was to invite the lady down to the store to examine the book with me. Considering that the translation is the innocuous Good News Bible, approved by the American Bible Society, I seriously doubt that it would be objectionable to 95% of our local churches. I’ll be bringing it in on Thursday. It may not sell, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to be inhibited by reactionaries.

By the way, at the time I did not know the local metro paper had mentioned the book. I suspected that some radio preacher had railed against the book and as soon as he signed off, one of his listeners started calling all the bookstores around to make sure it never went on the shelves.