| Bible marathon
 "The project of the Italian national television network (RAI) called 'the Bible day and night' will bring the Sacred Scriptures to that modern square which is the television. This free public circulation of the Bible has been for more than 200 years the objective of the work of the Bible societies. This is one of the motivations that has guided the Italian Bible Society (SBI) to join what will be the longest live television program in the history of the RAI."
This was stated by Prof. Daniele Garrone, Protestant theologian and President of the SBI at a news conference. Presenting the project "the Bible day and night" was Mons. Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture. From October 5 to 11, at the same time as that of the Synod of bishops in which the main theme this year will be the Bible, from the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem in Rome, the RAI proposes a continuous reading of the Sacred Scriptures: 1200 people of every denomination and every walk of life, religious and lay, will take turns in the reading. Besides many Roman Catholics there will be not only Protestants, who with the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy support the event along with many other associations, but also Orthodox Christians and Jews. Also invited to participate in the readings, for which different translations of the Scriptures will be used, will be people of other faiths and even non-believers. "This part of the initiative was particularly welcome - said Garrone -. All will have the same relationship to the passage that will be assigned them, all will be on the same level; a wonderful image of the churches as a creation of the Word. A lesson for the divided church yet united before the Word that calls them, guides them, forgives them." Inaugurating this integral reading of the Bible will be Pope Benedict XVI, as announced by the Director of RAI Vatican, Giuseppe De Carli, officially presenting the program. Garrone, instead of thinking of this event as "everyone with the Bible under the guidance of the Pope", suggested a different approach: "everyone together, before the Scripture, because we are all equal under the Word."
This initiative, a great cultural event, was particularly appreciated by the Bible Society in Italy: "for a whole week the spotlights will be on the Bible, that which has been defined as the "absent book" in the culture of our country will become present through the media", concluded Garrone, with the hope that "our reading will help stimulate the Italian culture to become interested in the role that the Bible has played in the history of the modern world."
From press service NEV - Notizie evangeliche, 31 August 2008 |
