The Bible holds its own

The opening in March of the History Channel’s 10-hour television miniseries The Bible was seen by 13.1 million American viewers, the largest cable TV audience of the year so far, and will be shown in the United Kingdom in the fall. The production is selling well as a DVD, and is also being marketed as a “novel.”

Although it’s impossible to obtain exact figures, there is no doubt that the Bible is the world’s best-selling and most widely distributed book, with recent estimates at more than five billion copies.

None of this will come as a surprise to Sentinel readers, many of whom cherish the Bible in much the same way as the founder of this magazine, Mary Baker Eddy, did. Mrs. Eddy loved the Bible, describing it as her sole teacher, and expressed her desire that people should view it as “the chart of life, where the buoys and healing currents of Truth are pointed out” (see Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, pp. viii , 24 ). She readily acknowledged its key role in her elucidation of the Science of the Christ, and in the success of her Church’s mission.

The Bible has lost none of its appeal.

Television miniseries such as this one offered by the History Channel, and most other media representations of Bible stories, may always be controversial, focusing as they do on violent detail ingeniously enriched by computer imaging and lush music. We suspect that many Sentinel readers will be quick to point out that prayer, which is an integral part of the Christian experience and played a major role in the lives of historical Bible characters, tends to be squeezed out; the effects of prayer are more seen than felt. There is simply not enough evidence in these media representations of the gracious providence of God that fills our lives with hope, justice, and love.

The History Channel’s Bible miniseries may not be a great recruitment tool for Christianity, but it has certainly shown that the Bible has lost none of its appeal and that viewers will survive even vividly depicted suffering if there’s enough emphasis on redemption, healing, and joy.

This magazine includes testimonies and articles that point to the way in which the Bible, along with Science and Health, undergirds spiritual healing around the world. It also features a commentary on the weekly Christian Science Bible Lessons that Mrs. Eddy established and runs an occasional column titled “Bible Translations: Old & New.”

Contemporary Bible translations continue to be published—among them N.T. Wright’s The Kingdom New Testament (HarperOne, 2011). He insists that this is something each generation ought to be doing. “Just as Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread,” he writes, “we can never simply live on yesterday’s bread … [we] need to do fresh work for [ourselves], to think things through, to struggle and pray and ponder and try things out” (see Kim Shippey, “Making sense of Jesus’ world,” Sentinel, March 5, 2012).

Could there be a more exciting challenge than that!

No wonder the Scriptures are a continuing source of creativity, inspiration, and healing.