c. 1999 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ The longstanding and controversial intersection of the Bible and culture is the topic of an hourlong television documentary to be aired on Palm Sunday (March 28).”The Bible in the 21st Century”looks at how the the Bible has been interpreted over the years, from the illustrated manuscripts dating from medieval times to the recent Dreamworks production of”The Prince of Egypt.” The program, to be aired at 4 p.m. EST on the Odyssey Channel, also reflects the ongoing debates over gender-inclusive language and biblical interpretations of women’s roles.”It’s a program that does a very good job of getting its arms around a huge topic,”said John Wackman, supervising producer at Odyssey.”Some of the debates are as old as the Bible itself, and some of them are as new as the Internet.” Those interviewed for the program range from Southern Baptist Convention President Paige Patterson to Phil Vischer, creator of”VeggieTales,”an animated children’s video series with biblically based messages.

Patterson and Rabbi Burton Visotsky, a professor of Talmudic studies at New York’s Jewish Theological Seminary, give differing views about the need for inclusive language.

Patterson notes that while many have argued for more inclusive Bibles, there has not been a similar effort to make Shakespeare’s writings more inclusive.”It doesn’t bother them that Shakespeare says it,”Patterson said.”When God says it, it seems to bother them a great deal and so it’s dishonest to begin with. It’s a failure of integrity to say that the book says this when it didn’t say that.” But Visotsky said gender-neutral language is necessary for the current times.”If you want a Bible translation that’s useful for the 20th and 21st century, if you want a Bible translation that speaks to modern liturgy and the fact that people now care about what the Bible says, then I think a gender-neutral translation is called for,”he said.

Peter Leahey, a producer/director of”The Bible in the 21st Century,”said the debates over the Bible’s words will continue as its images evolve in an Internet age.”It seems likely that as that develops, there will be some questions and there will be people taking positions on that,”he said.”Some people will be saying `This is appropriate and it makes perfect sense’ … and some people will say `No, it’s sacrilegious … I believe in the word and only the word. Don’t show me pictures.'” The airing of the first project by Babelfish, a New York-based independent film company, comes just as Odyssey is revamping its lineup as a result of a recent partnership with Hallmark Entertainment and The Jim Henson Company.

While faith-based programs will continue in the weekday mornings and on weekends, at other times the channel will feature family-oriented programs from the libraries of the Hallmark and Henson companies. The channel is carried on 1,500 cable systems to about 30 million households.

Wackman said the airing of”The Bible in the 21st Century”demonstrates Odyssey’s”ongoing commitment”to include spiritual documentaries in its programming.

IR END BANKS