Religion: Bringing Down the Bible

The Reader's Digest condenses Scripture by 40%

Were God and his inspired scriptural writers unforgivably long-winded? Could they have benefited, like other authors, from a dose of tough-minded, un-worshipful editing? Verily, saith the Reader's Digest, and last week it brought forth the Reader's Digest Bible. Priced at $16.95, it is 320,000 words (or 40%) shorter than the Protestant text of the Revised Standard Version on which it is based; the Old Testament has been cut down by half and the New by onefourth. Alas, less in this instance is not more.

The project began...

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