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Tweeting the Bible

April 09, 2010 by Deborah Arca

Continued from Page 2

Do you ever worry that your humorous commentary is making light of the Bible and that people might be getting a skewed vision of scripture through your satirical lens?

Yeah, I'd be alarmed if people were only reading the Twible. It's supposed to be a humorous take on the Bible, not a substitute for it. But most people love the cheeky perspective.

#Twible Ex 34: Once more, with feeling! G has Mo do the 2 tablets all over again. G insists he is slow to anger. Well, except that one time.

Can a project such as this make someone a better writer or editor?

Man, that 140-character count is just unrelenting. There is always so much more to say. Sometimes I laser in on one particular aspect of a chapter, and other times I try to synthesize the whole thing, like the Ten Commandments. But I think that limitations can inspire a writer's creativity, and in the end can be very freeing. I'm not trying to reproduce the Bible; I'm trying to make it funny and accessible and a little unexpected.

The silver lining of the 140-character count (which for me is more like 120 after #Twible and the book & chapter) is that if it weren't so short, I wouldn't have time to do it at all. I have a book due in June, and many other freelance journalism projects on the fire at any one time, so the short bursts of writerly creativity required by the Twible are a welcome change.

#Twible Ex 2: Baby Moses: I'm cool with floating down the Nile in a basket, but who is this Egyptian chick I'm supposed to call Mom?

I'd love to see other people take on the classics. On Twitter I follow William Shakespeare, which is always enlightening. Someone from the Massachusetts Historical Society tweets out each day what John Quincy Adams was doing on that day 200 years ago, which I find unexpectedly compelling. Lots of accounts of bilious attacks. And why not have someone tweeting out the Vedas? Now there's a good twenty-year project for you.

Have you thought about what you'll do with all of this material when you finish your last tweet in January 2013?

January of 2013? Yikes, I hadn't seen that spelled out before. This is indeed a long project. I plan for the Twible to become a book, with all 1,189 tweets plus lots of sidebars on funny tidbits about the Bible.

Follow Jana's Twible journey on Twitter: @janariess

Read more of Jana's "Twibles" at the Patheos Faith Forward blog in the coming weeks.

For more articles like this, visit the Mainline Protestant Portal at Patheos.

Deborah Arca Mooney joined the Patheos team after more than ten years managing programs for the Program in Christian Spirituality at the San Francisco Theological Seminary. Deborah has also been a youth minister, a director of Christian Education and music/theatre programs for young people and has served as a music director for worship and special retreats.

Page: 3 of 3

4/9/2010 4:00:00 AM

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About Deborah Arca

Deborah Arca is the former Director of Content at Patheos. Prior to joining Patheos, Deborah managed the Programs in Christian Spirituality at the San Francisco Theological Seminary, including the Program's renowned spiritual direction program and the nationally-renowned Lilly-funded Youth Ministry & Spirituality Project. Deborah has also been a youth minister, a director of music and theatre programs for children and teens, and a music minister. Deborah belongs to a progressive United Church of Christ church in Englewood, CO.

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