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Using the Contemporary English Version (CEV) text, this new Poverty and Justice Bible will highlight more than 2,000 verses that spell out God’s attitude to poverty and justice:

‘We want the world to see that the Bible is relevant to life and not full of rules, finger-wagging and old-fashioned ideas,’ says Bible Society Chief Executive James Catford.

In fact, on something as contemporary as addressing the issues of poverty and injustice, God got there first. The Bible has something to say about life.

There is a generation of Christian young adults who are passionate about their faith but who struggle to connect it with the Bible. So this Bible starts where they are, with issues close to their heart. This special Poverty and Justice Bible gives them a way to begin to engage with Scripture, and we hope and pray this will be the first of many encounters for them.

This is at the heart of our mission, for people beyond the church to see the Bible as more relevant and help the church engage with it more effectively. This is just as important as our work to make the Bible available. It’s all part of the fight against Bible poverty.

[HT:gospelherald.com.hk | link]

I am not sure what to make of this. On one hand, I think it is absolutely great to see Christians focusing once again on the issues of Poverty and Justice in our world. But on the other hand, to single out a topic in salvation history and make a Bible edition out of it, I think is quite debatable. This reminds me of the problem of Liberation theology, where God is the Liberator, yet we forget He liberates not just for liberation’s sake, but out of his promise and faithfulness to His people, and the love of His creation.