Jots & Tittles

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It Almost Sells Itself

There are ads for everything from cars to long-distance calling plans, so why not religion? That seems to be the thinking behind two advertising campaigns on both sides of the Atlantic. In Britain, a poster intended to encourage people to attend church on Easter depicts Jesus as the Cuban Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara. Fifty thousand churches have been asked to buy packs of the 5-foot high posters, which are emblazoned with the slogan “Meek. Mild. As If. Discover the real Jesus. Church. April 4.” Guevara appears in his traditional red and black with a crown of thorns on his head instead of a beret. “We wanted to get away from the wimpy Nordic figure in a white nightie,” Reverend Tom Ambrose of the Churches Advertising Network told The Daily Telegraph. Not everyone is amused, however; critics say the poster trivializes God and presents a confusing message: It does not mention Easter, and as a Marxist, Guevara was opposed to religion and too militant to convey a message of peace and love.

On the other hand, the Smith Company, a Ft. Lauderdale-based ad agency, has won two industry awards for the “God Speaks” campaign it designed for an anonymous client. “You think it’s hot here!—God” reads a billboard beside a busy route in Broward County, Florida, just north of Miami’s Dade County. “Let’s get together at my house before the game—God” appears on the side of a passing bus. Inside it another sign threatens, “Keep using my name in vain, I’ll make rush hour longer—God.”

A Bible in Every Pot

While 90% of all Americans own a Bible, less than half of them read it, according to a survey by the American Bible Society. In response, the Society has proclaimed 1999 “The Year of the Bible” and has launched a daily reading program to get people to buy and read Bibles. It is selling New Testaments keyed to the program, along with videos and lapel pins; it is also giving away buttons, bookmarks and bumper stickers.

Publishers, too, have responded, issuing a wide variety of “niche” Bibles, which target particular themes and ethnic, gender and age groups. Mothers, fathers, teenagers and African Americans—few groups have escaped the effort.

Bibles targeted at women, for example, contain sections on homemaking and charts on the Bible’s gemstones, herbs and flowers—things that, stereotypically, men are not expected to find interesting and women are. Zondervan’s Women’s Devotional Bible supplements its biblical text with materials on subjects ranging from infertility to aging. The devotions are all written by women, such as Mother Teresa and singer Debby Boone, and appear in floral boxes throughout the text. Thomas Nelson’s Women’s Study Bible counsels women to seek protection from civil authorities in the event of spousal abuse.

The approach has its detractors. “It’s one thing to have a focused Bible on a large segment of the population…but when you come down to just everything but an Elvis Bible, you’re getting a little bit ridiculous,” Dorothy Patterson, editor of the Women’s Study Bible, told the Associated Press.

However, niche Bibles are likely here to stay, particularly those aimed at women. A study by Thomas Nelson revealed that women make 85% of all Bible purchases. Zondervan’s Women’s Devotional Bible has already sold more than two million copies.

“High-End” Bibles

And speaking of niche Bibles…Artist Barry Moser is preparing a two-volume King James Version of the Bible that will be printed with handset type and illustrated with 231 of his own engravings. Better known for his illustrated Alice in Wonderland and Huckleberry Finn, Moser is the first artist in more than 100 years to create a Bible with original illustrations in every book. The work will cost $10,000; only 400 copies will be printed. A deluxe five-volume version—printed on handmade paper with special bindings and including a full set of numbered and signed prints and one of the original woodcut engraving blocks—will cost two or three times as much and will have an even more limited run of only 50 copies. For those of us of more modest means, a $65 hardback version will also be available.

Arion Press, a small San Francisco publishing house devoted to the art of bookmaking, plans a large folio edition of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible for the year 2000.

Every letter of the Arion Bible is being cast individually. The paper is being manufactured from cotton fibers at a mill in England. The volumes will be sewn by hand and bound in goatskin. Each of the 250 to 400 volumes printed will weigh 25 pounds and cost between $7,250 and $11,000, depending on its binding and whether or not initial capitals are illuminated by hand.

“This Bible will be a thing of beauty,” Andrew Hoyem, publisher of the Press, told BR.

It Almost Sells Itself