Life Application Bible for Students: The Living Bible

by Anonymous

Book by

1326 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1988

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

First sentence: When God began creating the heavens and the earth, the earth was a shapeless, chaotic mass, with the Spirit of God brooding over the dark vapors.

Start date: June 4, 2024
End date: August 7, 2024

The Living translation was the PARAPHRASE I used when I first came to faith as a child. It was the first Bible that I read through cover to cover. Did it hold up decades later...for me? I'm not sure it did. I'll clarify. I do think it serves or at the very least served a purpose. But for me, I have so many other translations that I prefer that it makes less sense for me to come back to the Living Bible for my daily bible reading.

When it was first released in 1971, it would have been extremely refreshing, useful, and practical to read the Bible in a more accessible translation [paraphrase.] When it was first released, it would have been competing with the King James Version, the Good News Bible (1966), Revised Standard Version (1952), Amplified Bible (1965), New English Bible (1970), New American Standard Bible (1971). Perhaps with the exception of the Good News Bible, the Bible was more formal than not. This seemed to be "the" translation to hand to new believers, to "the youth" coming to Christ. The focus seems to be making the Bible WIDELY understood--removing many/most barriers to comprehension. All translations have some commentary creep in here and there. I think this is more the case in paraphrase than translations. It seems to focus on one meaning instead of layers of meaning that require further food for thought.

Though Life Application is part of the name, it's very different to the LIFE APPLICATION series of Bibles you are likely familiar with. This does not have study notes necessarily. Or application notes if you want to be nitpicky. It has character profiles. It has "stories" from teens. It has book introductions. But instead of notes, it has STUDY QUESTIONS at the end of each book. Instead of study notes, it asks readers to ANSWER the questions for themselves. These questions are genuinely thought provoking and serious. These are not silly, light-hearted questions.

When this one released, I do not believe there were any "children" translations available. So I do think the Living served a major purpose for helping new believers of all ages--but particularly those on the younger side--come to know more. Now that there are MANY translations--some for children, some for adults--that are more accessible with the added benefit of being genuine translations instead of paraphrase, the Living is not as necessary or needed. There are most likely better options available for those new to the faith.

This one is two column, black letter.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this translation as a teenager and liked that it was filled with sidenotes and sub-sections similar to a school textbook. It was my first attempt reading anything in the genre of religion or philosophy and so it brings back good memories to think of studying this version of the bible in jr. high school. Though I was never fond of the King James version and gravitated towards a version translated into an easily-approachable vernacular, I did realize the following year when starting to read the New American Standard Version how much a difference a translation closer to the original languages makes in understanding the older versions of the texts. It's not so much that this version white-washes unpleasant portions of the bible but simply that English language is an immense language with a myriad of choices for the appropriate wording needed for each passage and without a thorough study of the Greek and Hebrew languages of those time periods you are instead basing your wording on a newer translation of a newer translation of a newer translation, and so understanding the original intent of the writer who penned a passage becomes more difficult. This was not important the first time reading through the bible, but rather getting excited and making an emotional connection with the ideas was more important, and this version accomplished that end. I can't say I think positively about the bible anymore or view it in the infallible light the orthodox and fundamentalist readers hold to, nor that I am able to brush over the myriad of pieces of the book which now make my skin crawl and my blood boil, but nevertheless it was a good experience reading it at that time and at that phase in my intellectual development. I can only rate it based on how I appreciated it when I read it rather than what I feel about it now.