This March marks France’s sixth annual Bible Month, a thirty-one-day campaign created by the French Bible Society (ABF) and the French Union of Booksellers and Religious Literature. The campaign involves over 200 bookstores that spend the month raising awareness for the Bible across the country. This year’s theme is “When the Bible pushes me toward others,” with many of the materials discussing the importance of loving one’s neighbor and standing in solidarity with the needy. 

Bookshops can engage with the campaign in a variety of ways, from hosting conferences and workshops on the Bible, to distributing books and activities that promote understanding, as well as arranging Bible Month storefront displays. In support of this annual initiative, the ABF produced over 500 posters, 40,000 bookmarks, and 30,000 editions of Bible Month magazine, supplying the materials to participating bookstores that hand them to the public, free of charge. 

This year’s magazine includes an exclusive interview with Dr. Denis Mukwege who discusses his reliance on the Bible as he works with rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mukwege won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to stop wartime sexual violence. 

“The commandment of love of neighbour guides all my actions,” Mukwege writes in his article, as translated by Christian Network Europe. 

The mission behind the Bible Month campaign is not only to increase sales of the Bible but to encourage those who have a Bible to open it and read it. As part of the promotion for 2022’s Bible Month, pastor and biblical scholar Anne-Laure Danet told RBF Radio that the readership of the Bible is decreasing despite the number of copies in print. 

“It’s the best-selling book in the world, and yet it is little read in the end,” she said, theorizing that the book’s association with religion and the complexity of its content may be causing this decline. She, along with everyone involved in Bible Month, hopes that the campaign will reignite the country’s interest in the Bible, as the book is “more than just a story,” Danet states. “It’s a search for meaning.”