Dean’s Bibleathon

Currently some of the oldest and most significant Bibles owned by the Cathedral are on display in the foyer of the church building - itself significant as it is the first Cathedral to be built anywhere in the World following The Reformation.

The daily readings will have a ‘public’ and a ‘personal’ aspect, and will be delivered in conjunction with the continuing Diocesan initiative ‘Transforming Community Radiating Christ’ begun last year by Bishop Ken Good, the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe,

“The new aspect of Transforming Community Radiating Christ is focusing on personal development and spirituality of the person, and up until now the initiative has been very much in terms of the church reaching out into the community and doing things in the community.

“The new thrust of the initiative for the anniversary year is for private, personal manifestation and at the Cathedral we have decided that during weekdays and Saturdays during 2012 that we will have a Bible reading from the Authorised version every day. We have not finalised the exact structure of how this will be achieved, but we will be reading from The Bible for 15 minutes each day from 10.15am to 10.30am taking us up to the morning service that takes place that day, whether it is Morning Service or Communion. So every morning the service will be prefaced by the Bible reading.

“That way, in the course of a year, and by using a devised strategy, we are going to read the entire Scriptures. The particular book that we will be using to achieve this is titled ‘Every Day With Jesus’,” said Dean Morton, who said that the plans, initially, at least, were to incorporate The Old and New Testaments, Psalms, Proverbs and Epistles into the readings.

“This will be read in a structured way, but we have not finalised exactly how we are going to do it yet,” he said, adding: “The daily readings in the Cathedral will be the ‘public’ side of the initiative, but there will be a private or personal dimension to it too. We are recommending that in line with this initiative as many people as possible will buy a copy of this book so that those unable to attend the readings due to work demands, or because they look after children, or whatever, can have a copy of their own and so be able to personally be able to read and reflect on the passages of Scripture that will have been read that particular day.”

Meanwhile, the display of Bibles will remain on display this month at the Cathedral for those who wish to see them. The oldest is the Geneva Bible (Breeches Bible) of 1584; a 1588 Bible; the 1611 Authorised version and a faximile of the 1611 Bible, and the Walker Bible in the Chapter House.