The Bible. It’s consistently the best-selling book on the planet and now it’s gone green. Publishing company Harper One recently released the Green Bible, a new environmentally-friendly version of the Bible, and it’s selling well. In fact, more that 25,000 copies sold in the first few weeks of its release.

Printed on recycled paper with soy ink, the Green Bible has a sustainable beige linen cover embossed with a green picture of a tree.

Covering both the Old and New Testament, this eco-friendly Bible has all text that mentions something about the environment printed in green (as opposed to the “red letter bible” where all the believed words of Jesus are printed in red). In all, over 1,000 verses throughout the Bible have been printed in green. And to make relevant issues (air, pollution, gardening) easy to find, there is even a Green Subject Index.

Endorsed by secular organizations such as the Humane Society and The Sierra Club, the Green Bible has been making waves among some Christian evangelical circles who are concerned that introducing environmental activism into the Bible could lead to people being distracted from their mission to follow and spread the word of God.

But while some are not happy with the Bible going green, others, particularly those involved in the Creation Care Movement, are more enthused by the emergence of a green ‘Good Book’. They are hoping that, with essays about global warming and other environmental issues written by well-known religious leaders such as Desmond Tutu, the new version will generate a lively theological debate about environmentalism. I guess time will tell.