Saturday, March 28, 2009

Review - Word of Promise Next Generation NT

The Thomas Nelson publishers recently released a new audio bible aimed at the wired generation - an MP3-CD audio bible called the "Word of Promise Next Generation New Testament Dramatized Audio Bible".


Unlike other bible readings, this one stars a Hollywood cast of talented young stars, such as Cody Linley (from Hannah Montana and Dancing with the Stars) as Jesus, Corbin Bleu (High School Musical) as Peter, Annasophia Robb (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as Mary Magdalene, and it's narrated by Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings). It's a dramatized reading, complete with a well done original score and ambient sounds. The audio bible includes helpful and passionate book introductions by Max Lucado and his daughter Jenna Lucado. There's also a bonus DVD with behind-the-scenes interviews with the actors. The set comes on 3 MP3-CD's playable in all computers and on many CD and DVD players (that support the MP3 format). There's a 40 day listening program covering the 23 hours of audio.

The version used in this new testament is the International Children's Bible. The ICB was one of the first bible translations written specifically for kids (1985), at a third-grade level. I thought the dramatized reading was very well done. But more important, what do the kids think? Mine thought it was excellent - they found it engaging, really liked the fact it had a sound track and sound effects, and thought it was cool that some of their favorite actors and actresses were involved. They like listening to audiobooks in the minivan, so this should be a great addition for some of our longer trips. When in comes to intake of scripture, variety is good, and the Word of Promise Next Gen audio bible is definitely a fresh way to hear from the Word.
I was glad to get a review copy of this CD set as it's not something I would normally think of buying. You can watch the trailer below or see the Word of Promise Next Generation trailer on YouTube; it's available on Amazon and at other retailers.

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