Occasionally, I like to take a moment to imagine what relevance a new technological product might have for biblical studies. Yesterday, a friend of mine told me about a fairly new and hype-gathering tool called Vook (a name that does not exactly roll off the tongue). This is a tool that seems to be aimed at the iPad and whatever other similar devices follow the iPad. It integrates e-reading with watching videos. At first, I didn’t get it. Okay, so, maybe some sort of instruction manual could use video to show you how to do something. But how do you find complementary video for literary works. On their trailer, they include what looks like stock video of a woman running. Really? I’m reading about a woman running and you give me a video of a woman running? Is that how it works? That’s a little hokey.

On the other hand, apparently they also have video bits that are like documentaries. So, you decide to read Sherlock Holmes and you get videos on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his historical situation, as well as some impromtu “on the street” interviews about his fictional characters. This is more like it. Not something that helps me “get in the mood” of the story, per se, but something that is kind of like a commentary… giving me background information or relevant conversation about the topic, story, or author at hand. I think I could get into that. Naturally, if they team up with quality producers of informed video content (BBC, PBS, etc.), they could get something really amazing going on there.

Can’t you see Zondervan getting behind something like this and putting out hosts of different sorts of study Bibles for different audiences? The more academic publishers could try to create one with top scholars being interviewed on particular passages or themes, archaeological issues. Vook Bibles could include sermons appropriate to the audience or something like Rob Bell’s NOOMA videos. Maps included in study Bibles could go beyond mere stagnant arrows, to show sequential movement. Charts and tables of information could be adapted for video format and placed in appropriate locations in the text.

As we move down the road a few years, I can see quite a few people getting access to these sorts of devices. If institutions follow the trend of schools handing out the latest technologies to students, then I could see something like Vook offering a really interesting service for academic works (e.g., textbooks, etc.). I tell you what, though, if they want to make some money, I bet coming out with Zondervan-style plethora of Bibles would do them lots of good. Of course, I would like a couple Vook Bibles to be the New Oxford Annotateds or New Interpreters or HarperCollins Study Bibles of the Vook Bible lineup (a category that I have just made up). So, what do you think, Vook?