Bet you've never had this problem
When I took my first theology class (Feminist Biblical Interpretation, which ought to tell you something) I bought the first serious Bible I've ever owned. I mean, I had some before that--the kid kind that are disappointing Christmas presents, and then an old and musty one I bought because I liked the gilding on the pages. I used to flip through it looking for annotations from the little old lady who owned it before, and sometimes even read the Psalms. But then in college I got my New Oxford Annotated Bible, an impressive tome with the editors' names on the cover, which must be a hell of a feeling. It's a good version, with exotic Apocrypha and useful historical background, and sometimes I even read it *not* for class. (Although study Bibles aren't really the best for meditation, especially if you're a word junkie like I am who gets all wrapped up in the footnotes.) Anyway. A class I'll be taking this semester (Biblical Spirituality, rumored to be awesome, they had to move it to a bigger classroom, which I somehow find hilarious at a divinity school) recommends The Catholic Study Bible, which I'm sure is also a lovely work.
The respective merits of the Bibles aren't really the issue. (My current has inclusive language, which I don't think the Catholic Study B does, being, uh, Catholic, but then it would be nice to be using the same text as the lectionary.) No, the thing is, two Bibles? Owning two Bibles? For some reason the second Bible seems to me like a third cat or a fourth kid, something whose acquisition makes you "that lady with the [blank]s." You'd be surprised how often people check out my bookshelves, and I think it's important to maintain an image that will allow people who don't believe what I do to the extent that I do to take my opinions seriously. I think people who know me come to know that I am absolutely crazy about God, but I generally try not to word-for-word open with that. I find the image of being crazy about religion even less conducive to good conversations.
It is bad--quite bad--enough that my obviously holier roommate just put up a crucifix in the kitchen. And of course I can't petition for its removal, because it's a crucifix! And I can't get rid of an extra Bible, because it's a Bible! You don't just jettison a Bible for the latest model!
Maybe I can remove all the images from the kitchen during Lent. And conceal that extra Bible on my roommate's shelf.
posted by Theologienne @ 1:50 PM
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I have two Bibles on my bookshelf--the fabulous New Oxford Annotated, which makes me feel smart, and the International STUDENT BIBLE for CATHOLICS. The latter is slightly more portable but infinitely more embarrassing, as its spine spells out its name in multicolored script. The front matter includes discussion of such topics as "Evolution: Was My Grandma an Orangutan?", the sacraments ("Baptism: Big Baby Gets a Bath" and "Matrimony: Baby I Love U"), as well as sample responses when your non-Catholic friends tell you that you "worship statues and Mary and other dead people." Easy to laugh at, but I guess we've grown used to ridiculing sincerity.
Suggestion: Make sure your visitors know how crazy you are before you show 'em your bookshelves. I feel like if anybody is allowed to have two Bibles, it's a div student...
Bonus reflection: I was thinking about the gendered nature of "the lady with the [blanks]." My mom was always the Milk Lady at the local grocery stores. When my brother and I were still at home, she'd regularly be getting seven gallons at a time on the weekly shopping trip. On the other hand, we're from a place where being the Pork Queen isn't necessarily a pejorative, so maybe it's a wash.
I still have a beat-up paperback copy of the new American Standard, given to me by a Campus Crusader for Christ whose literalness drove me a little nuts but whose probing questions nonetheless propelled me back to church after a four-year break. So i'm a little attached to it for sentimental reasons. And then there's an old beat up family bible... seems to be mutliple Bibles might in fact suggest LESS dogmatism, rather than more, since the owner is open to reading mutliple voices, multiple translations... What separates an erudite collector from the dreaded "That lady with" ...? A bonus post: one needs to be careful what one expresses enthusiasm for. I have a Christmas angel made from bamboo, very spare and iconic, and a sweet friend concluded from this that i like angels, and gifts me with ceramic angels, gilded angels, angels wearing lots of makeup and hair bows, and i am helpless to divert the flock. i can hardly say, Yes, I like angels of a certain type, none of these, now can I?
oh my, Katie. the lady with the Bibles hahaha. miss you muchly, you know? we shoudl talk soon! <3 Ang
Well, if you want, you can always buy a couple of other relegious texts from different traditions to balance out your menagerie.
Hiding bibles. jeesh. I can think of more than a couple of reading pleasures needing concealment, but bibles...that's good.
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