Like Instagram, But for the Bible

3 minute read

Silicon Valley, meet the Sermon on the Mount.

A new app lets people share inspirational images online, but instead of trending hashtags they can peg them to their favorite Bible verses.

Launched on March 5, the Parallel Bible is different from traditional Bible apps such as the popular YouVersion, which focus on the individual’s experience with the Word.

Instead, users sign into a virtual fellowship, uploading their own photos and videos and tagging them with related verses, searching Scripture to see other users’ photos and sharing stories in small groups or on their own news feeds.

“What we want for the Bible is to turn it back into a big table where everyone feels like they can be welcome,” co-founder Andrew Breitenberg says. “If you are a human being, you qualify—you don’t have to be a Christian to read the Bible.”

Breitenberg founded Parallel with his brother Chris. The brothers who grew up in Princeton, N.J., and who now live in Virginia Beach and Washington, D.C. Andrew, 36, is a graduate of Swarthmore and spent the last six years doing street art and graffiti in Cape Town. Chris, 33, is a graduate of Davidson and has worked at a peace-building nonprofit and spent time traveling Asia.

Both have explored evangelical and Eastern Christian traditions, and their spiritual influences include French mystic and activist Simone Weil, American Catholic mystic Thomas Merton, and the British theologian C.S. Lewis, beloved by evangelicals worldwide. For the past six months, Richard Rohr, a Franciscan friar and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, has been their mentor.

Their core idea is the theological principle that the Bible is inherently more than a book, it is a shared experience. Biblical texts began as oral traditions, and only became bound in one cohesive, written form after hundreds of years. The modern idea that the Bible is a just book with a beginning, middle and end, misses the diverse cultural contexts that it contains, as well as the way that people have interacted with those stories over the centuries and the participation that is possible in the Bible’s stories today.

“Ultimately faith is not individual but communal with God and the people around you,” says Chris. “We are just shortening that leap.”

Parallel Bible is currently free. The Breitenberg brothers do not believe in putting ads or commercials in the middle of the Bible, and their goal is to create the new community first and monetize later. That strategy, they say, has so far not deterred investors. Their team is small—right now they have just one developer—and their startup budget for the past two years was about $100,000. It is currently only available for iTunes (an Android version is in the works) and they have had about 1,000 downloads. But, as Andrew says, this is just the beginning. “You can’t build something that looks like Instagram overnight.”

Beyond the development process however, the app signals a new evangelism, the communal sharing of stories rather than overt proselytization. And the founders are thinking big. “It literally could be the next Bible that the world uses,” says Andrew.

These Are the Interior Department's Most Popular Instagram Photos of 2014

Our public lands give some of the most spectacular views, like this one of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming
Our public lands give some of the most spectacular views, like this one of Grand Teton National Park in WyomingChristina Adele Warburg— sharetheexperience.org
America's first national monument, Devils Tower is a geologic feature that protrudes out of the rolling prairie in Wyoming. David Lane (@drlane56) captured this amazing 16-image panorama of the monument illuminated by the Milky Way and green airglow. Of visiting Devils Tower, David says: "From ancient stories of the Pleiades taking refuge at the top to the generations of Native Americas that held it sacred, it had a deep sense of age and a stoic nature that impressed me. It's so unexpected, so large in person, so steeped in traditions." Courtesy David Lane
This bear is in Lake Clark National Park, a land of stunning beauty where volcanoes steam, salmon run, bears forage, craggy mountains reflect in shimmering turquoise lakes, and local people and culture still depend on the land and water of their home. Solitude is found around every bend in the river and shoulder of a mountain. Venture into the park to become part of the wilderness.Kevin Dietrich—— sharetheexperience.org
A gorgeous photo of the changing fall colors in Zion National Park (Utah). Kevin Roland captured this shot at one of the park's most popular areas -- the Narrows, a gorge with wall a thousand feet tall.Kevin Roland—— sharetheexperience.org
On October 8, 1964, this Colorado River lake area on the border of Nevada and Arizona became the first national recreation area in the U.S. With its gorgeous contrasts of desert and water, mountains and canyons, Lake Mead National Recreation Area offers year-round recreational opportunities. Cheryl Hobbs—— sharetheexperience.org
Winter has arrived at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, and it is gorgeous! Christina Adele Warburg@christinaadelephoto took this photo last weekend at Mormon Row. Photographers from around the world visit this area of the park to capture the iconic barn with the Teton Range in the background. Courtesy Christina Adele Warburg
An amazing sunrise at Canyonlands National Park in Utah. This photo was captured by Ryan Engstrom on the Mesa Arch Trail -- a popular place to capture the sunrise over the park’s countless canyons and fantastically formed buttes carved by the Colorado River and its tributaries. Ryan Engstrom— sharetheexperience.org
The morning commute is a little different at Yellowstone National Park. Cameron Patrick captured this photo on a cold morning -- just after the bison herd had waded through a river along the side the road. The bisons' body heat caused the water to turn to steam in the cold air, creating mist around the bison.Courtesy Cameron Patrick
"If it isn't God's backyard, then he certainly lives nearby." - Robin Williams on Glacier National Park. Kim Hang Dessoliers— sharetheexperience.org
The Milky Way over Arches National Park in Utah.Jacob W. Frank

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