Liberal Bibles?

[GreenPartyVoter]

No, I don't necessarily mean Bibles rewritten in PC lingo per se, but I have seen numerous study Bibles out there but none of them ever seem to be put together by liberal Chrisitians. (I currently have 3, the student Bible, The Women's Bible II, and the Couples' Bible)

Do any of the more liberal denominations put out their own study Bibles, or are there any generic non-denominational liberal study Bibles in existence?

Thanks!

[Khephra]

1. Probably not quite what you're looking for

But I'm quite fond of the Jefferson Bible.

[shoelace414]

2. liberal bible?

Try the new testament

[barbaraann]

3. The Jefferson Bible, The Gospel According to Jesus.

And, maybe, The Queen Jane's Bible (Holy Bible for Adults Only). :evilgrin:

[SaveElmer]

4. I was thinking the same thing...Check out John Shelby Spong

I've been reading books by Bishop John Shelby Spong who is a liberal Episcopalian Bishop (I am a Unitarian). In particular his look at the Bible and thise who take it literally. He does a really good job of taking it apart, explaining the origin of its various parts and demonstrating the folly of taking it as the literal word of God. In fact he argues that as science and knowledge progress and more people realize that it can no longer be taken literally, unless religious groups modify how they view the bible, they will actually see the ultimate destruction of their denominations. I was hoping he might have produced a study version of the bible - but alas he has not.

Thomas Jefferson did produce a version of the bible that removes what he viewed as the supernatiral parts of Jesus' life, stripping it down to his teachings.

Here is Bishop Spongs website if you want to take a look.

His book "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism" is a great read!
www.johnshelbyspong.com

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Thanks, I haven't read Spong yet but I like borg. But what I want

is an actual Bible with liberal devotions in it.

But I dunno if they exist.

[cprise]

5. Skeptics Annotated Bible

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. Thanks! I can't exactly haul it into church but at least I can read it at

home. :D

[cprise]

10. They have a PalmPilot version you can download

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/palmSAB.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. Oh, my conservative hubby would NEVER let me put that into his Palm Pilot

*lol* But it's good to know in case I get a PDA of my own one day. :)

[Az]

19. There is a limited edition Bible called Queen Janes Bible

It might be a tad .... angry but it has a lot of the same conflicts and issues that skepticsannotated points out. An angry atheist put a lot of work into that one.

[MissAnnThrope]

7. One Was Just Written!

And boy, is it causing an uproar.

Here you go.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. *lol* That's even wilder than The Message *lollol*

[MissAnnThrope]

11. I'm Not Familiar With The Message

Do you have a link?

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. Here is an appalled RWer's take on it. Mind you

the church I go to is full of RWers and the Pastors still use The MEssage now and again, so I guess it's not as bad as this site claims it to be, because I guarantee you my conservative Pastors would never touch anything they thought was blasphemous.

http://www.crossroad.to/Bible_studies/Message.html

[MissAnnThrope]

15. OK...

I love this quote:

Should we then rewrite God's holy Scriptures to fit today's more shallow and worldly communications?

I ask, why not? These people beat the KJV, which was written in it's time with updated language and the people who interpreted it got a lot of it wrong.

I would love to see a literal translation of the bible, from the languages in which it was originally written to English, not all this Ancient Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek translated to Latin and then English. We all know things get lost in the translation that way and if there is no word for a word in the original writings, they just make something up.

For instance, in the original writings, Mary was described as pure. It was the translators who decided pure meant virgin.

Whoever wrote that analysis needs to really get a grip.

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. It's legalistic nuts like this who give my faith a bad name. They

can't stand "warm fuzzy" Christianity, never understanding that it was always MEANT to be a warm and fuzzy experience over all. That's a very large part of Grace.

[MissAnnThrope]

18. Very True

All the tenets they follow that are full of hate were NOT those of Jesus. (OK, there's one where he says you have to reject your family, friends and just love him, but that's the only one. And I believe he was talking to the Philistines.) It was Mark's idea to get people to witness for Jesus. To convert those who weren't Christian. It was Paul who preached all the hate and intolerance in the New Testament. I can't remember the name of the guy who wrote Revelation, but he was all pissed off about being exiled by the Romans and the book has to do with his feelings about them, not some Rapture that wasn't even thought up until the 1800s.

If Jesus was still alive to see what people did in his name, he'd go Old Testament on them, I swear.

[pdx_prog]

14. There is the "A Course in Miracles"

Dr. Helen Schucman wrote this, supposedly as it was told her by Jesus. It is not a stand alone Bible, but rather a direction for understanding God's word. It is VERY interesting and really makes you think. It is more of a Metaphysical understanding than anything.

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. Thanks! I am always interested in spirituality with a philosophical bent