Green Books Campaign: The Green Bible

This review is part of the Green Books campaign . Today 100 bloggers are reviewing 100 great books printed in an environmentally friendly way. Our goal is to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books. This campaign is organized by Eco-Libris, a  a green company working to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books. A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website .

When I decided to join this tour I thought, "Why not try a green Bible, I have every other kind." What I didn't expect was for it to be such an eye-opening and spirit stirring devotional.

When I opened The Green Bible my interest was immediately captured because the foreward was written by the Honorable ArchBishop Desmond Tutu. He concludes with this powerful affirmation: "It is possible to have a new kind of world, a world where there will be more compassion, more gentleness, more caring, more laughter, more joy for all of God's creation, because that is God's dream. And God says, 'Help me, help me, help me realize my dream.'" 

I am not particularly green. I'm conscious of the need to be greener and every month or so we make some adjustment in our home in an effort to be greener, ie. the special light bulbs, the recycling of newspaper and plastic, so reading the Bible through a green lens was illuminating. The Green Bible includes essays by the late Pope John Paul II, Calvin B. Dewitt and others that are poignant, educational and inspiring. Through their words I learned how important it is to be conscious of God's creation. It's not something I think about everyday, but it should be, because the word says "the earth is the Lords"(Psalm 24:1). We are to be good stewards over what God has lent us. This Bible helped me to become more aware of that. I believe it will do that for all readers. I highly recommend this Bible to Christians. I know many of us are not as green as we need to be. It's worth the investment, and it would make an awesome gift, so consider it this Christmas season, particularly for that person on your list that has everything. 

The Green Bible was printed using recycled paper with soy based ink and a cotton/linen cover which I love. I also have to admit, I loved the use of green lettering where Bibles traditionally use red-letter ink. It was a fresh approach to highlighting scripture. The NRSV, New Revised Standard Version, as always was a good choice for translation.

"For God is the king of all the earth." Psalm 47:7

Oh dear, I was riddled with guilt when I saw this picture on the Eco-Libris Blog. It made me want to purchase something I said I would never buy, a Kindle or some other e-reader. How about you?