A journey into the Bible for the blind and partially sighted

GERMANY — As a blind man, Reiner Unglaub has a special understanding of what is required to make an audio book really appeal to blind and partially sighted people. But even though he spent many years giving speech training to other people, he hardly dared to dream that one day he would become a leading reader of audio books. One of his recordings, the Luther Bible, is now being made available by the German Bible Society.

Mr Unglaub was born in 1942 in the former East Germany and attended special schools for blind children. After studying elocution and German at university, he gave speech training to announcers on radio and television stations in Berlin. Coming to the attention of the authorities because of his ideological stance, especially his Christian faith, he found career progression very difficult. Later, though, he studied theology and became a pastor.

Persuaded

“I don’t simply read to them; I anticipate the text in order to bring it alive. I invite the listener to become my companion.”

Remaining in West Germany after a visit in 1984, he returned to speech training. It was not long before he became involved with a publishing venture specialising in audio books and was persuaded that he, too, could make recordings of texts that are available in Braille. One of his first recordings was the New Testament, and the German Bible Society is now offering his recording of the whole Luther Bible. This has been very warmly received. “I always try to imagine my listeners,” Mr Unglaub explains. “I don’t simply read to them; I anticipate the text in order to bring it alive. I invite the listener to become my companion. The treasure that my listeners and I can discover in the text is not immediately obvious, but it’s worth the effort. It’s the interpretation that gives the text its ‘palatability’.” And even though newer translations have long been available, he remains a particular fan of the Luther Bible. “There is almost no other Bible translation in German that creates such a sense of attachment,” he says. “Luther’s language grabs your attention and draws you in. I even find, when reading it aloud, that it has real pace and that it pays attention to sounds. I also love its range of imagery. Luther’s language is like a musical score that I bring to life.” Mr Unglaub’s reading of the Luther Bible is available on five MP3 CDs. The total running time is 84 hours.

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