Erotic pictures to bring Bible back into fashion
A. Melon
ISSUE 2193
Sunday 27 May 2001
'Erotic' pictures to bring Bible back into fashion
By Jessica Berry
A GLOSSY magazine-style version of the Old Testament, featuring leading
models pictured by the world's leading fashion photographers, will be
unveiled later this year.
Claudia Schiffer and Markus Schenkenberg are the models expected to portray
Eve and Adam in a project designed to attract young people who rarely read
the bible.
Gustaf-Wilhelm Hellstedt, one of four Swedish entrepreneurs behind the
idea, said: "Forget those old sketches in the Bible. Instead of a boring
drawing of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we may well have a couple
walking down a New York street, kissing."
Who is to be pictured in the new Illuminated Bible, which will retain the
traditional King James text, is being kept under wraps by the group, which
trades under the name Fishtank. It has revealed, however, that its list of
fashion photographers rivals that of Vogue.
Among those signed up is Paolo Roversi, who has often photographed Miss
Schiffer and Madonna. The venture has been greeted with shock in some
quarters. David Phillips, the general secretary of the Church Society which
promotes Christianity with the Church of England said: "It sounds like a
gimmick that is entirely unnecessary."
David Phillips said: "The power of God's salvation is in the gospel, not
the images. The real concern is to make known what the Bible teaches, not
to make it attractive." The Bishop of Durham, the Rt Rev Michael Turnbull,
cautiously welcomed the idea. Rt Rev Turnbull said: "Anything that enlivens
people's interest in what a good read the Bible is, is good. But it needs
doing with taste."
Michel Gyring, another member of Fishtank, said that the group had realised
last year that most editions of the Old Testament had changed little since
1454 when the first Gutenberg Bible was printed. Mr Gyring said: "We had
the idea to contemporise the Bible and make it accessible to 15- to 30-year
olds."
Mr Hellstedt said: "Most of the models, who will earn up to £10,000 a day,
will have their clothes on, but there will be some nudity because the Bible
is very sensual and we are going to exploit that. We want to take the Bible
off the dusty back shelf and put it on coffee tables.
The venture has elicited the interest of Virgin Publishing, although it has
yet to sign a contract. Mr Hellstedt said: "We are negotiating with Virgin.
We have had an offer from a Finnish publisher for about £300,000, but we
are holding out for Virgin."