Bible

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China Seizes US Missionaries' Bibles

Christian group refuses to leave airport without their books

(Newser) - Four American Christians whose Bibles were confiscated by authorities are refusing to leave a Chinese airport until the books are returned. The Vision Beyond Borders group had planned to distribute 315 Chinese-language Bibles during the Olympics, but religious proselytizing is banned in China, reports AP. Bibles in China are legally...

World's Oldest Bible Makes Web Debut Thursday

German university, British Library compile 390 pages of 4th-century parchment

(Newser) - The world's oldest nearly intact Bible—a fourth-century manuscript written in ancient Greek—will be published online later this week, Deutsche Welle reports. The Codex Sinaiticus, rediscovered in a Sinai Peninsula monastery in 1844, contains half the Jewish Old Testamant and most of the Christian New Testament. The University of...

Ancient Text Casts Doubt on Resurrection

In tablet, scholar sees risen messiah as pre-Jesus theme

(Newser) - A new interpretation of a tablet written in 1st century BC questions the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Times of London reports. One biblical scholar says the text conveys the story of an angel telling a dying Jew, killed by Romans 4 years before Christ's birth, that he...

Pope to Launch Bible Marathon for TV, Internet

Pontiff will lead off six-day reading fest in the fall

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI may not have the media cache of his predecessor, but he's working on it. The pontiff will kick off a six-day Bible-reading marathon that will be broadcast live on Italian television and the Internet this fall. The Guardian reports the pope will read aloud the first chapter...

The Gospel According to Jefferson
The Gospel According to Jefferson

The Gospel According to Jefferson

Founding Father cut and pasted his own personal Bible

(Newser) - Thomas Jefferson cut and pasted together his own New Testament, removing everything he refused to believe—like miracles and the resurrection of Jesus, the Los Angeles Times reports. Dubbed the Jefferson Bible, it reflects his deist belief that God created the universe and let it run on its own. But...

Evangelical Dobson Slams Obama

Focus on the Family head blasts 'fruitcake' Constitution interpretation

(Newser) - One of the country's most prominent evangelical leaders says Barack Obama is "distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view," the AP reports. Focus on the Family head James Dobson recorded an 18-minute screed that was released ahead of his radio show today,...

Israel Still Struggles With Meaning of, Path to 'Normal'

Can the Jewish state ever be just a country among countries? Does it want to be?

(Newser) - Even as Israel celebrates its 60th birthday, the Jewish state’s lifelong pursuit of normalcy has David Hazony wondering, in the New Republic, if such a thing is possible or desired. Piquing Hazony's interest was the government's recent hiring of a PR firm to build a “narrative of normalcy,...

Marine In Iraq Suspended Over Bible-Quoting Coins

He reportedly handed them out to Iraqis

(Newser) - A US Marine has been suspended after he reportedly distributed coins with Bible verses at an entry point in Falluja, CNN reports. One coin reportedly asked, in Arabic, “Where will you spend eternity?” Military rules forbid troops from proselytizing. A US spokesman apologized to angry Muslims and said “...

Google Book Scans Go Slow at Research Libraries

No speedy way to digitize the rarest of volumes, search giant finding

(Newser) - In its ongoing effort to digitize the world's 50-100 million books for online book searching, Google is funding scanning efforts for rare volumes at leading libraries. The AP observed one such digitizing—the oldest Bible with Arabic type, scanned manually at 600 pages per day—which, to protect the work,...

Saudi Trashes Bible in Reply to Dutch Pol's Film

'Schism' echoes premise of Wilders' anti-Islam 'Fitna'

(Newser) - A Saudi Arabian blogger has released his response to the anti-Islamic film Fitna, attacking the Bible in Schism much as the Dutch effort savaged the Koran, Der Spiegel reports. “Schism” places images of war alongside the Bible. “It is easy to take parts of any Holy (sic) book...

Moses Got High on Mt. Sinai, Study Says

Mind-altering drugs may have sparked religious visions

(Newser) - Moses was high on mind-altering drugs when he heard God’s word on Mount Sinai, an Israeli researcher said this week. He contends that hallucinogenics were key to Jewish ceremonies and explain Moses' reception of the Ten Commandments and his vision of the burning bush. Benny Shanon, who teaches at...

I-35 Beckons the Faithful
I-35 Beckons the Faithful

I-35 Beckons the Faithful

Prayer movement hopes to touch communities along highway

(Newser) - A group of Dallas Pentecostal Christians reading the Bible one day noted that Isaiah 35, Verse 8, mentions a "highway for holiness." That put them in mind of nearby Interstate 35, which runs from Laredo, Texas, to Duluth, Minn., NPR reports, and that, in turn, prompted an unusual...

The Good Book Is Good Biz
The Good Book Is Good Biz

The Good Book Is Good Biz

New looks, special themes drive $770M Bible industry

(Newser) - In the thriving business of Bible publishing, the lone calligrapher in his scriptorium has been superseded by marketing execs armed with PowerPoint. About 25 million Bibles were sold this year in America, reports the Los Angeles Times—that's 11 million more than the latest Harry Potter installment. But since the...

Scientists Inscribe Tiny Bible
Scientists Inscribe Tiny Bible

Scientists Inscribe Tiny Bible

Israelis etch entire text on 0.01-square inch surface

(Newser) - Israeli scientists have crammed the entire Hebrew Bible onto a chip that is half the size of a grain of sugar, the AP reports. They used a particle beam to etch it onto the 0.01-square inch surface “like a hammer and chisel," one scientist said. The new...

Fundamentalists Appeared After First English Bible

Having book in a common tongue allowed readers' own interpretations

(Newser) - The first English translation of the Bible led to the rise of fundamentalist interpretations of scripture, a Harvard professor writes in a new book. In Burning to Read: English Fundamentalism and its Reformation Opponents, James Simpson writes that once the general public no longer had to rely on clergy to...

China&rsquo;s Hot Seller: the Bible
China’s Hot Seller: the Bible

China’s Hot Seller: the Bible

It sells by the millions, but isn't allowed in bookstores

(Newser) - It's not in China's bookstores, but the Bible remains one of the country's bestselling books, the Times of London reports. Today China's one authorized Bible publisher, Amity Printing, proved it by producing its 50th millionth copy. Yet Bibles remain a hot issue in China, for police sometimes arrest Bible smugglers,...

Diggers Unearth Key Bible Wall
Diggers Unearth Key Bible Wall

Diggers Unearth Key Bible Wall

Ancient wall thought to be one mentioned in Bible

(Newser) - Archaeologists digging in Jerusalem's City of David have found what they believe is an ancient wall mentioned in the Bible, AP reports. While working to save a tower from collapse, they found pottery shards and arrowheads from the 5th century BC, leading them to believe that a wall nearby is...

Creation Geologists Rock World
Creation Geologists Rock World

Creation Geologists Rock World

They're well-credentialed and unafraid of data

(Newser) - Today's creationist geologists are not who the secular may think. Numerous and thriving, many hold advanced degrees from top universities, and are making evangelicals more open to scientific evidence. And they are experts for the nearly half of Americans who believe God created the Earth in the last 10,000...

Swanky Hotels Kiss Gideons Goodbye
Swanky Hotels Kiss Gideons Goodbye

Swanky Hotels Kiss Gideons Goodbye

Upscale facilities doing away with nightstand Bibles

(Newser) - While you'll still find that copy of the New Testament waiting in lower-tier hotel and motel rooms, the Bible is slowly checking out of luxury hotels and resorts, ABC News reports.  The number of upscale hotels putting the Gospels by the bedside has dropped 18 percent since 2001. "...

Osama Tape 'Sophomoric' and Bizarre

'I expect more from a terrorist mastermind,' says National Review

(Newser) - Osama’s latest tape is “a great disappointment,” as sophomoric as it is bizarre, says James Robbins in the National Review. The terrorist’s invitation for Americans to convert to Islam – which would force “warmongering corporations” to spend energy converting people back – is as odd...

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