consultant, believes the new edition has raised awareness among ordinary Norwegians that a readable Bible exists. Her work normally entails coordinating “the visual identi- ties” of churches across 11 dioceses. Myrholt calls the public relations timing of Bibelen
and Bible 2011 “coincidental” but concedes that the stage production might have had a long-running effect on the Bible’s popularity. Before the new Bible and Bibelen, stage productions of Mark the Evangelist and Acts of the Apostles were met with skepticism until audiences real- ized the monologue performances had followed the Bible verbatim. “You could say there’s a long history of reli- gious performances,” Myrholt said. “Audiences sat and watched and checked their Bibles. It wasn’t until Bibelen that the screenplay was found to deviate a great deal.”
A new read The Lord’s Prayer, or Faren vår, is one of the translation’s bigger departures from tradition. Lesser changes are “young girl” for “virgin” and “siblings” for “brothers.” Christine Holmsen Linbjoer, a Church of Norway pas-
tor, uses the new Bible and likes it “a lot.” But she said some of the new translations, like The Lord’s Prayer, still don’t sit right.
“The changes mean that we who have to present it become more reliant on a script in the interim,” she said. “I think some of the formulations are good, especially ‘Let us not be tempted,’ which gives a whole new direc- tion than ‘Lead us not into temptation.’ The challenge is more about finding the time and the occasion to inter- pret [the changes]. … I think it’s a healthy sign that new knowledge led to the changes. I like that dynamic.” Myrholt said openness to change can be partly explained by what she called Norway’s “strong contact between church and cultural life.” For example, many congregations hold concerts where parishioners engage people via music, drama, Pow- erPoint presentations or even ventrilo- quism. There are
During the October 2011 launch of the new Bible, Norwe- gian Bible Society editor Hans-Olav Mo erk wanted the “Harry Potter” effect with children and youth lining up for copies.
December 2013 35
mass children’s choirs, like Oslo Soul Children, and even musical sessions for toddlers based on indigenous Sami culture’s faith practices.
Actors have been employed to help pastors with body language, diction and to interpret the whole. Moerk said there’s a growing awareness over the past 20 or 30 years that a pastor is responsible for “more than words.” Moerk told of one pastor who had just handed out the confirmation edition of Bible 2011 and saw kids sitting on the church steps, “leafing through [the] Bibles and discussing which passage they wanted to illustrate on the front cover.” Plastic sleeves on confirmation editions can be filled with kids’ own desktop cover illustrations. At another parish, Moerk said a young graffiti artist, who was asked to decorate the wall of a church under renovation, painted “a skull with flowers coming out of its eyes.” The artist said it symbolized the victory of life over death or the resurrection message from 1 Corinthians 15. “Young and old began helping him paint it … the whole congregation together decorating their church,” Moerk said.
It inspired a Bible 2011 cover that was controversial. Some parents asked what a skull had to do with the Bible. This December, in a nod to the Norwegian Bible Soci-
ety, the Church of Norway will launch its own book of Psalms—the first revision in 28 years.
COURTESY BIBELSELSKAPET/DAG K SMEMO
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