In the category “what will they think of next?” we bring you the Emoji Bible. In the category “nothing new under the sun,” the Emoji Bible’s ancestral roots run deep.
You’ve likely already read accounts and blogs, so I’ll not dive into too much newsiness. The upshot: an anonymous author has released on iTunes (which credits Zach Swetz as the seller) a King James Version using emojis throughout the text of the Bible, titled “Scripture 4 Millenials” (sic).
Not knowing the author, we really don’t know the motivation. The iTunes description says “A great and fun way to share the gospel. Explore all 66 books chronicling the the (sic) stories of Abraham, Noah and Jesus like never before!” This sounds genuine enough, but the fact that we have to acknowledge two mistakes (thus, sic) in the title and the publisher’s description does bring pause. Millennials, the target audience of the version, are weighing in that it’s not something they would use.
Attempts to make the Bible accessible have been happening since the first non-Latin translations of the Reformation. In more modern history, paraphrases such as The New Testament in Modern English (J.B. Phillips) and The Message (Eugene Peterson) have served as mental emojis, giving us fresh word pictures to help us understand key ideas. And of course there are the recent efforts to present the Bible in hip hop and street language, i.e. The Word on the Street (Rob Lacey).
As Ecclesiastes 1:9 tells us, there is nothing new under the sun. In fact, take a peek at the back of your Thompson Chain Reference Bible and you’ll see suggestions on how to make your own emoji’s for studying Scripture, or at least suggestions for symbols and markings (topic number 4315). Here at InWord we’ve been advocating the use of emoji’s for over 20 years (smiley, frowney, “indifferenty”) as part of our inductive approach. Of course we’ve only referred to them as emoticons or emojis over the past few years.
So what are we to make of this new version? My thought: use it for what it is, one more gateway for accessing the transformational truth of God’s Word. It’s not for the steady diet in personal Bible engagement, but it’s certainly a tool to pique interest.
In fact, try InWord’s sample study exercise, freshly tweaked to utilize the emoji gateway as reflected in the title, Inner Venture: An Emoji Dive into God’s Word.
