Movie-Quality Audio Bible Now Online for Free
A movie-quality audio Bible, featuring Academy Award and Golden Globe winners, recently became available online for free for the first time.
A partnership between "The Word of Promise" and The Christian Post brings the winner of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association's 2008 "Christian Book of the Year" award in its entirety to listeners without cost.
"The Word of Promise" – dramatized by actors including Jim Caviezel, Richard Dreyfuss, Jon Voight, Marisa Tomei, and Gary Sinese – brings the word of God to life and engages listeners' imagination with movie-quality sound effects and original music by 125 musicians scored in Rome by prolific Italian composer Stefano Mainetti.
"This is a resource like no other because I don't believe there is anywhere that you can get the meaning of the word better than this website," said Carl Amari, CEO of Falcon Picture Group, which produced "The Word of Promise," on Wednesday to The Christian Post.
As people read the text of the New King James Version, provided by The Christian Post, they can also hear the word dramatized by "The Word of Promise."
"I think it can become a very helpful tool to combat Bible illiteracy because it makes the Bible fun," said Amari. "I can tell you that listening to 'The Word of Promise' in this engaging, exciting way, where your imagination is enriched, really draws you into the Scripture."
"'The Word of Promise' by itself, you can't read it," he said. "Christian Post by itself you can just read it. But together, you can read it and experience it audibly."
Amari shared that he dreamed of making a movie-quality audio Bible since childhood, but could not do so until recently because of the "huge undertaking" it required. More than 600 actors were involved in the making of "The Word of Promise."
"One of the core reasons that I did this as opposed to making a movie – I really shut my professional life down for four years to produced this – is because I wanted families to gather together to bond again," shared Amari.
He recalled fondly that in the 1940s and 50s families would eat dinner together and then gather around the radio to listen to broadcasts. He hopes that "The Word of Promise" can bring families together at least once a week to listen to the movie-like reading of the Bible.
His bigger vision, however, is that the audio Bible will help people to understand the word of God better. The producer hopes the free website with the audio Bible can allow people to hear Scripture in a "fresh, new way."
"So many people have emailed me and said, 'I have heard this (Bible story) a hundred times and I feel like I am just now getting what this is about,'" he said. "And that to me is the greatest feeling. I feel like I've done something in my life that can help masses of people."
Small groups at churches are especially encouraged to use the CP Audio Bible website as part of their lesson plan.
"It is now available to them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to just log on and hear the [Bible] performed by some of the greatest actors in the world," said Amari.
In addition to the ECPA "Christian Book of the Year" award, "The Word of Promise" has also won three Audie Awards, three gold Millennium Awards, and three 2008 Communicator Awards, among other recognitions.
On the Web: www.christianpost.com/cpbible