Testament, by Phillip Law
A Review
Photo: pro.corbis.com
Some time ago the idea occurred to me that it would be great if someone produced a condensed version of the Old Testament aimed at adults (obviously such versions exist for young children), as my knowledge of the Old Testament, perhaps more correctly called the Jewish Bible, is fairly limited. A few months later while browsing through a book catalogue I came across Testament, edited by Philip Law.
Essentially it is an abridgement by omission of the entire Bible, based on the Revised English Version, which focuses mainly on the Narrative sections but also includes some Poetry, Epistles and so on. It is split into five sections: From Adam to Moses; Warriors, Prophets and Kings; Poems, Proverbs and Prophecies; The Story of the Christ and From Acts to Apocalypse. The total word count is around 250,000 words, which is about a third of the length of the Bible as we (Protestant English edition readers) know it today, and about 45% longer than the New Testament. Chapter and Verse numbering is omitted (as it was in the original texts), although source listings for each section are given at the back.
The first thing that you will notice is the almost ridiculous number of endorsements contained in the first few pages: everyone from theologians to journalists, priests to rabbis seem to be strongly endorsing it. And with good reason. The back cover accurately calls it “the Bible without the parts that slow the story down” (which should probably be read ‘without the boring bits’). It is an excellent idea and one that has been carried out skilfully, with an admirable lack of significant bias towards any particular beliefs or theories.
It is not quite what I had in mind, but it is the closest such thing I’ve come across. Some of the Old Testament stories are still told in a very drawn out, old-fashioned way. And while I wouldn’t dare suggest that we should reject that form, I would argue there is also a place for a modern rewriting of them — a version of the Old Testament using a reasonably sophisticated vocabulary and a contemporary structure aimed at adults. Not just a paraphrase as in the case of The Message or an abridgement by omission as in the case of Testament, but a proper retelling. In the meantime Testament does a fine job and provides an accessible way of reading most of the important bits of the Bible quickly.
Testament is published by Continuum and is available in a high quality paperback for £9.99.