New Bible isn't good book for all

NASHVILLE, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- A new chronological Bible isn't going to be the good book for everyone, even its Nashville publishers agree.

The Chronological Study Bible remixes the traditional Protestant Bible's 66 books according to description of events in time. It is a version from which some may learn but which may confuse others, The Tennessean reported Sunday.

Wayne Hastings, senior vice president at Thomas Nelson publishing, agrees this new Bible isn't for beginners. But he argues it will help longtime Bible readers see how the different parts of Scripture fit together when compared chronologically.

"Here's where David and Bathsheba did their thing," he said, "and right in the middle of that is when David wrote Psalm 51. So we dropped (in) Psalm 51, to give you, the reader, the spiritual impact of that psalm."

But critics say that approach fails to realize that many biblical passages were written much later and thus influenced by the context of their own times.

"I do think you do lose something when you start demolishing any book of the Bible," said Richard Hess, professor of Old Testament at Denver Seminary. "You lose the literary and theological context."