The Bible: A Bestseller in Russia

• Share

According to the official Soviet Encyclopedia, Moses was a myth and the Bible is simply a collection of unedifying tall stories. Nonetheless, God's word has all of a sudden become a bestseller in Russia. Last month, Moscow's Publishing House for Political Literature brought out a new book called Biblical Stories containing Lamblike retellings of Old Testament passages, illustrations in color drawn from classical Western art, and sardonic commentaries by two atheist editors. Within a few hours, the entire first edition of 100,000 copies was completely sold out.

The express purpose of Biblical Stories is to expose the purely human origin of the Old Testament, although the explanatory notes are somewhat less militant in tone than most Russian references to Scripture. Editor Zenon Kosi-movsky, surprisingly enough, concedes that many of the passages of the Bible have been authenticated by historical evidence and that David may have been a real person who wrote some of the Psalms. Lest readers be carried away by such admissions, Alexander Osipov, an ex-priest turned unbeliever, warns in a critical epilogue against taking the Bible seriously as a historical document. None of this discouraging propaganda, however, had much effect on religious Russians, most of whom have had to rely on Bibles printed before the Revolution. Even Scripture edited by atheists, apparently, is better than no Scripture at all.