ROGERS PARK — A Loyola University department tweeted out lines of the Bible Monday — from Genesis to the Book of Revelations — to "expose the beauty" of a new edition of the holy book.
Loyola's Institute of Pastoral Studies began tweeting at midnight and continued every 15 minutes though the day and night, with 96 messages in all.
Monday was chosen because it is the feast of St. Jerome, who "translated the Bible into a common language of his day," Loyola professor Brian Schmisek said in a statement.
Jerome, who died in 420, is best known for translating the Bible into Latin, based on Greek manuscripts.
The version Loyola is using for tweets is the New American Bible Revised Edition, described as the culmination of 20 years of work by nearly 100 scholars and theologians.
"Evangelization means taking the Gospel to where people are, and more than ever, people are using new media throughout their day," said Helen Osman, secretary of communications for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which assisted with the project.
The first tweet came from Genesis, of course: "In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth..Then God said: Let there be light and there was light."
Tweets are available at @LoyolaIPS or by searching for the #IPSBible hashtag.
