AND NOW, THE ESV PITT MINION

Having switched over to the ESV from the NASB as my default translation earlier in the year I figured, hey, I need new Bibles--right? Right. Work with me here. It happened along about that time that I became a regular reader of Mark Bertrand's fine (yet very, very dangerous) weblog Bible Design and Binding. It turned out to be a costly confluence of events. As a result I am now three ESV Bibles richer, yet much cash poorer.

Earlier, I reviewed my ESV from Allan in tan highland goatskin. Yesterday my Cambridge Pitt Minion in brown goatskin arrived. I've not had much time to spend with it, but here are some early impressions and pictures.

The first thing that jumps out is how small the Pitt Minion is. It's a palm sized Bible, and will be great for stuffing in a coat pocket or briefcase. I can see that this one will be used a lot when I need to grab a Bible and run. The text pages are a bit more refined in their design than the Allan's, a better balance of margins. The text also seems to pop out on the page better on the Pitt Minion, which is good since the type is relatively small.

Of course, Allan uses a pre-done text block so the real comparison between the two comes at the binding. The cover on the Pitt Minion has a nice feel, and the brown color is elegantly understated. But the feel of the leather is like night and day compared to the Allan's. While the Allan's is supple and buttery, the Pitt Minion has a slight roughness to it, the spine is tighter and the cover is stiffer out of the box. The Allan's has a leather backing to the cover while the Pitt Minion uses what appears to be vinyl. I think it comes down to the fact that as nice as the Pitt Minion is (and it is nice--don't get me wrong!), it still seems like a factory Bible while the Allan seems more handcrafted. Of course, you'll pay twice as much (or close to it) for the Allan.

But they are different Bibles for different purposes. And one shouldn't hold against the Pitt Minion what it is not. What it is is a very well executed Bible that is quite handsome, and likely will be more versatile for me than the Allan's is. I think with use and time much of the stiffness will work itself out as well. Perhaps I can check back in with it in a year. One last quibble: I'd love it if the Pitt Minion had two ribbon markers rather than one. Ribbon markers are so useful, and they have to be cheap to add.

Before the pictures, a dream Bible: Pitt Minion size in single-column format and bound by R.L. Allan in their tan goatskin with raised bands thrown in for good measure (and three ribbon markers, of course).

Back to reality, here is the Bible that is:










Pitt Minion-R.L. Allan mini-stack:

THE SUPREME COURT HAS REFUSED to hear the Lucero vs. Texas jury Bible case:

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider a murder case in which a jury foreman read passages of the Bible to hold-out jurors who subsequently voted to impose the death penalty.

Without comment, the justices declined to consider whether the jury foreman's conduct violated the rights of Jimmie Lucero, an Amarillo, Texas, man sentenced to death after being convicted in the shotgun slayings of three neighbors at their home in 2003....

During deliberations, the foreman read aloud from Romans 13:1-6, which states that everyone must submit to authority and that those who do wrong should be afraid, for a ruler is "God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment to the wrongdoer."

It was all a tempest in a teapot, grasing at straws to set a murder of three people free. If reading the Bible leads to more convictions I'm all for it.

GOOD REASONS TO CARRY YOUR BIBLE

A soldier in Iraq found that carrying his Bible came in quite handy:

US soldier serving in iraq believes his Bible saved his life after it stopped a sniper's bullet.

22-year-old Army Private First Class Brendan Schweigart had his Bible tucked in a pocket beneath his bullet proof shield when he was shot with a high powered rifle while on a mission in Iraq.

The bullet missed his vital organs, came out his chest, and lodged in his Bible before it could do more damage.

I suspect that's a copy he'll be hanging on to.

ARRESTS MADE IN TURKEY following the murders of Bible publishers:

A court jailed five suspects Sunday on murder charges linked to the killings of three Christians who were tied up and had their throats slit at a publishing house which had drawn protests by nationalists for distributing Bibles.

Six others were released pending trial, the court said. It was unclear what charges the six faced and a trial date has not yet been set. A 12th suspect, who tried to escape from police by jumping from a fourth-floor balcony at the scene of the killings, remains hospitalized in stable condition and was expected to be charged later.

The three victims — a German man and two Turks who converted to Christianity — were killed Wednesday at a Christian publishing house in Malatya.

As the article points out, this incident will not help Turkey's bid for EU membership.

BIBLE PUBLISHERS killed in Turkey:

Attackers killed three people Wednesday at a publishing house that had been the subject of protests for distributing Bibles in Turkey, the government-run Anatolia news agency reported.

One person who had his throat cut inside the publishing house and another who jumped from the third floor to escape were taken to local hospitals for treatment, the private Dogan news agency said. Anatolia said one of those taken to the hospital later died.

Nationalists previously had protested outside the Zirve publishing house in the city of Malatya, accusing it of proselytizing, Dogan reported.

Video footage broadcast on private NTV news channel showed one man being tackled by police outside of the building, and another in a neck brace being loaded into a stretcher.

Malatya is known as a hotbed of nationalists and is the hometown of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981.

You've got to appreciate such openness and tolerance.

DOES THE BIBLE SAY EVOLUTION IS TRUE?

Maybe your copy doesn't, but this one does:

If you believe that we evolved from apes, that Genesis is great poetry, and that the Universe is billions of years old, can you still enjoy reading the Bible?

Bronx school teacher and book artist Ruth Rimm thinks she has an answer. Her latest book series, the "Lost Spiritual World," is a lavishly illustrated, "postmodern" edition of the Bible for skeptics, seekers, and people of different faiths.

"There may be a profound message behind the miracle stories, but the big bang and evolution implore us not to read things literally," Rimm says. "Most Americans would rather discover the spiritual truths behind the religious metaphors, especially given how fundamentalism is impacting public life with a narrow view of religion."

Rimm's edition of the Bible is anything but conventional, starting with an unusual design style. "The rectangular format of most books just doesn't capture the majesty of the text," says Rimm. Instead, she developed a wavy shape format, with exotic inks and computer generated artwork, to give readers "a more intimate experience of the mystical."

The moral is, if you don't like what the Bible says you can always write a new one.