FRANKFURT, Germany (RNS/ENI) The entire Bible can now be read in German using Twitter, following a record-breaking attempt to “tweet” the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation.
More than 3,000 Internet users took part in the 10-day initiative, condensing the Bible in 3,906 messages with a maximum of 140 characters each, Ecumenical News International reported.
“We were able to reach more people with this action than we had hoped,” said Melanie Huber, manager of the Protestant Web site evangelisch.de, which launched the initiative on May 20, the opening day of the biennial German Protestant Convention known as the Kirchentag.
Theologians divided the Bible into more than 3,000 sections to be summarized as individual messages known as “tweets.” Volunteers distributed flyers to tens of thousands of Kirchentag visitors listing the Bible verses to be tweeted. The church’s Web site provided an ongoing progress report, listing the sections that still needed to be condensed into Twitter format.
The final tweet was received at 11 a.m. on Saturday (May 30), more than 24 hours before the deadline to have the whole of the Bible online.