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Book Review: Word of Promise Next Generation – New Testament: Dramatized Audio Bible (Audio CD) Word of Promise Next Generation – New Testament: Dramatized Audio Bible

December 24th, 2008

The same content will be on this week’s Knit Spirit, as I think it’s more appropriate for that audience, but the publisher, Thomas Nelson, would prefer print reviews.  So please pick if you like your reviews in blog or podcast format.

I can’t discuss content for this review too much because, well, that wouldn’t make much sense.  Sure some description would have been nice, the pacing is off in places, and some footnotes might have explained Jesus’ puns to those not versed in Talmud and first century Aramaic (they’re very good).  There is a bit in Talmud about never showing a man an elephant going through the eye of a needle.  Jesus plays on this, and on a near homonym when he talks about his rich man (caMEL) and his, well, camel (CAmel, even in Aramaic, we all got it from Egyptian).

We get an all-star cast (and Kudos to the group for getting all those names right, they just flowed so comfortably–great job!)  The voices are appropriate for the characters.  The double-tone of the demon voices is clever, and easy to understand.  Some voice-altering tricks make the words indistinct, but this was totally clear.  The sound effects–running water, hoof beats, crying baby, and more–fit.  They don’t overwhelm or drown the sound.  They help pull the listener into the story.

Cody Linley does a brilliant job in the role of Jesus.  His voice carries a softness, clarity, and understated strength that fits Jesus perfectly.  He’s a captivating voice actor and this is a tremendous performance.  I can’t imagine anyone doing a better job with the part.  Truly, I can’t praise him highly enough.  He was fabulous.

It’s a good translation.  It doesn’t thee/thou the Almighty.  In Old English, “thee” and “thou” were second person singular pronouns, that were considered informal.  They were used to speak down to an underling (“Thou shalt not commit murder,” says the Almighty to His humble worshippers), or to express closeness (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” Shakespeare asks his lover), or to express contempt, but “Thy will be done” spoken by a human to a deity is just plain rude.  “Thee” and “thou” had fallen out of English by the time of King James, largely because “you” is so much more polite, and in trying to sound ancient, he got it wrong.  This translation doesn’t try to sound archaic; it tries to be easy to approach.  As such, it flows well to the modern ear.

The space between the files was a bit annoying.  The gap is too long, and had me checking for mechanical failure in the player repeatedly.  The introductory sections could deal with a bit less overacting/gushing.  I give this book four stars out of five.  Well done.

Entry Filed under: Reading, bible