If you're really gutsy, try it with the Koran

It has all the makings of a sacrilegious gimmick and marketing ploy, but that doesn't make it any less irritating: a "Bible" that presents Christ as a woman:

A new edition of the Gospels of the Bible for the first time shows Christ as a woman, named Judith Christ of Nazareth, and God as female. In all other respects, the classic texts of the Gospels remain unchanged. The publisher, LBI Institute, has released this new Bible entitled: "Judith Christ of Nazareth, The Gospels of the Bible, Corrected to Reflect that Christ Was a Woman, Extracted from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John."

The book is available in bookstores and online. "This long-awaited revised text of the Gospels makes the moral message of Christ more accessible to many, and more illuminating to all," says Billie Shakespeare, V.P. for the publisher. "It is empowering. We published this new Bible to acknowledge the rise of women in society."

No, you didn't. You published this "new Bible" to make money, gain publicity, and anger Christians. The LBI Institute (which apparently doesn't have a website) has published books on marketing and technology, so its credentials in the field of biblical studies are on par with those held by Dan Brown. So how long before ABC, NBC, CBS, or CNN produces a feature based on the life of Judith? I give them a month...

Comments

[Ed Peters]

Would flushing such a "Bible" down the toilet be sacrilegious?

[Phoebe]

But surely this must be a hoax and/or parody? I mean, really ... "Billie Shakespeare"?

[Carl Olson]

Phoebe: The publisher, LBI Institute, apparently exists and has published other books. But part of me does wonder how serious they are about this. As I said, I think this is large part gimmick. Controversy sells and likely they'll move a few copies of this thing...

[Mark]

It doesn't appear to be a hoax, since it is being sold at Amazon -- http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0966143728/103-8602103-5496629

[Saganashkee]

I think that this is where it is appropriate to quote P.T. Barnum: "There's a sucker born every minute."

[BillyHW]

If they did this to the Koran, somebody would be dead right now.

[Sandra Miesel]

Yawn. Back in the '80s there was a brief vogue for changing the sexes of characters in the parables for the Sunday Gospel readings--the Prodigal Daughter, for instance. The nonsense isn't entirely dead. A few months ago I heard a Jesuit speaker at a Day of Recollection speculate that the Good Samaritan might have been a woman. (The elderly upper-middle class ladies in the audience seemed quite receptive to this "thought".) Then there's the infamous Christa crucifix that's been hanging in some Episcopal church for decades.

[Brandon]

Supposedly it's for sale on amazon. It's out of print. all amazon appears to have is 1 used copy. I can't find it on forbes book list.