Consecrate the market

Second Amendment? Or Second Commandment?

The New Yorker has a nice read on the Bible publishing industry in the United States. This bit jumped out at me as indicative of the 30 percenters' mindsets:

Different kinds of packaging can always be seen by true believers as having an evangelical utility. If it helps reach people with the Word, then it’s not bad. You can consecrate the market.

I think it's safe to say that this same crowd would agree that spreading the Word through politics and public policy is the consecration of the State, or some other such nonsense. It's easy to feel good about getting rich and wielding power when it's done in the service of God. It also becomes particularly easy to portray anyone who crosses a crusading evangelical as anti-God, or worse...

What really bothers me is that "the word" being spread in some of these re-packaged devotional Bibles will be interpretive essays pushing a certain political agenda. I have no problem with the Bible itself - it doesn't surprise me that 91% of American homes have a Bible laying around somewhere, and there's something to be learned by reading it.

There's also something to be said about knowing the history of the Bible, and the politics behind translations. The cavalier target-marketing approach to biblical curatorship espoused by Southerners who think capitalism is a Divine Tool by which they'll spread the word to each and every soul (with the help of the Christian States of America (CSA) Army) does not make me trust their devotional biblical "product."