Matthew Campbell
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A THEOLOGIAN putting together a new Norwegian translation of the Old Testament has called for the word “hell” to be edited out of the Bible.
Odd Bondevik, a retired bishop, raised the question in Vart Land, a Christian daily newspaper, in January. Now it has become a burning topic.
The world “hell”, Bondevik says, has been “banalised” by overuse and its meaning has shifted from the biblical sense of eternal flames, damnation and torment.
Bondevik, 67, suggests an alternative: Gehenna, a Hebrew synonym for the place of burning and perpetual despair, though one mark against it is that Gehenna is already the name of a Norwegian “black metal” band.
About 85% of Norway’s 4.7m people are members of the Lutheran Church of Norway and Bondevik’s idea has pleased few. Messages have appeared on internet forums telling the bishop not to mess with the bible. Or, in short, to go to Gehenna.
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