I've Been Hunting Grants
I've been searching for grants to help pay for professional proofreading of the Casual English Bible®.
- Sixty-six books with 1.4 million words of text and footnotes.
- Over a thousand maps.
- Q&A leader's guides for the entire New Testament and parts of the Old
- A few dozen original songs inspired by Psalms (with more coming).
The proofreading that makes all of this accurate and trustworthy costs big bucks nobody's offering to pay.
The Bible text is free to read online for anyone in the world who wants it. The maps and discussion questions are free to use while you're studying online. The music, you can sample now and stream later.
You'd think somebody with grant money would want to help with that.
Not so much.
I've spent weeks working down a list of foundations. But one by one, I cross them off.
Secular Arts Foundations
They see the word "Bible" and it's Hasta la vista, Baby.
Doesn't matter that my nonprofit fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas, classifies this as a literary arts project. Doesn't matter that I'm a writer, not a church.
They see Scripture and assume I'm out to convert people. But converting people is the Holy Spirit's job.
I'm just trying to put the Bible in today's easy-reading English while avoiding the churchy tech words outsiders don't understand.
Religious Foundations
They want institutions, not a one-man Inc.
They want seminaries. Denominations. Corporations with boards wielding budgets in the millions.
They sponsor the Formula One, not the mechanic greased up and sweating in the garage.
Academic Grants
Academic grants want a Ph.D.
But how many Ph.D.'s can write a sentence that Uncle Henry would want to read? I spent a dozen years editing Bible scholars. As a rule, they write for their peers in formal, academic style. They write in passive and sedating sentences that will lift my kind of readers off their feet and float them gently into bed. Some will also fluff the pillows. (There are exceptions. "Hi George, Paul, Hal, and Dennis.")
I have a bachelor's degree in newswriting journalism from Kent State University, master's degree from Nazarene Theological Seminary, and over 40 years of researching and writing about Bible times and biblical teachings. During the process, over two million souls bought my books. Not counting the work I did with Reader's Digest Books.
But I don't have the right letters after my name, so I don't get past the front door. And thanks to that "Stephen Miller" in Washington DC, I don't have much of a name anymore, either.
Publishers
They aren't interested.
My agent tried. The big Bible publishers spend millions assembling teams of scholars.
A one-man show? Heck no.
The one-man approach is what Eugene Peterson did with The Message. That's what Ken Taylor did with The Living Bible.
I'm not Eugene or Ken. I'm just one of the Steve's out there working long days.
Ken and Eugene were lightning-in-a-bottle. Nobody's offering me a bottle, though I could use one about now. Does that make me more of a flash in the pan?
Time will tell.
Either way, here I am, and I'm standing my ground somewhere between the Holy Land and the Badlands.
Too religious for the arts world.
Too independent for the religious world.
Too small for the publishing world.
Too experienced as a truth-telling writer for the marketing world.
Nobody with money wants me.
And yet the Casual English Bible® keeps growing.
Readers keep showing up - people who've never opened a Bible before, people coming back to the Bible after years away, teachers looking for something their students can actually understand.
The 3D maps keep getting built - free to use online, with printable PDFs available in the store.
The music keeps coming - you can sample every track and stream or buy the ones you like.
I just released a song called "Higher Ground," using the last words of the prophet Habakkuk as the lyrics.
I can relate.
What I Actually Need
Professional proofreaders to go through all 66 books so this Bible is as accurate as it is accessible.
The budget is about $85,130.
That sounds like a megachurch ask. Or the tally of a seminary endowment.
But it's just one writer trying to finish what he started and do it right.
The grant world doesn't have a box I can check for what I'm doing. But I don't need a box. It's nothing but an empty square.
I don't need a foundation, a publisher, or the trust fund of a corpse.
I need you. You and me are all I've got. I think we're enough.
If the Casual English Bible® has meant something to you - if you've used the maps, listened to the music, or simply appreciated that somebody's trying to make Scripture make sense - this is where it matters.
I'm Steve and I wrote this message. And if you know me, you know that.
Today, we launch a Bible book sponsorship mission to raise the proofreading money.
You can sponsor the proofreading of your favorite Bible chapters (if you can get to them first).
Better yet, you can sponsor your favorite Bible book. I took Amos, Nehemiah, Habakkuk and Ezekiel.
All other books are up for grabs in the sponsorship. If you can, give me a hand here.
Support proofreading for the Casual English Bible →
Proofreading for the Casual English Bible® is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of Proofreading for the Casual English Bible® must be made payable to "Fractured Atlas" only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
