PARIS, France — The Parole de Vie Bible is available in three editions, the Catholic edition, the Protestant edition and the Interconfessional Edition, which differ according to the order adopted for the books of the Old Testament.
A further version, ‘The Bible for Children’, is currently being produced for children. A collaboration between the Bible Societies of Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, it consists of Bible texts carefully edited into graded stories designed to appeal to children from the ages of three to 12. Where sentences have occasionally been added to make a connection between two paragraphs, they are printed in italics to distinguish them from the Bible text, and colour illustrations faithfully emphasise the points of the stories.
More than 50 per cent of the entire population of Africa are under 18 years old but there are comparatively few Bible publications for them, particularly in French-speaking regions. Moreover the few that do exist are too expensive for many people.
‘The Bible for Children’, however, is being printed with the whole of French-speaking Africa in mind, and the resulting economies of scale will bring the price of the book within the reach of more families. Preparations for the distribution are already in hand: a users’ guide and a promotional video are now in production. (WR 357/22 - 1/2.01)