It’s no secret that teenage girls love magazines — their rooms are often cluttered with glossy copies of Cosmo, Self, Glamour, Teen People and Seventeen.

Now you can add another hip, fresh and youth-oriented publication to that stack: the New Testament.

That’s the hope, anyway.

Transit, the teen-targeted division of evangelical, Nashville-based Thomas Nelson — a respected publisher of Bible translations and devotional guides — has come up with “Revolve, the Complete New Testament,” a fashion magazine-style Bible aimed at girls 12 to 17. Its goal is to get the Gospel into the hands of teenage girls by making it visually appealing, accessible and easy to apply to a young person’s everyday life.

“We did some research and found that teens don’t read the Bible,” said Laurie Whaley, the creator of Revolve, in a recent interview that appeared in the Sunday New York Times Magazine.

“They say it is too freaky and too big and it doesn’t make sense. The only thing they read is fashion magazines, so we thought, what if we made the Bible look like a magazine?”

The idea of a new, niche Bible aimed at teenage girls appears to be successful. Revolve, which includes the entire New Testament, is flying out of Christian book stores across the country, including some in the Lawrence area.

The 388-page paperback sells for $14.99. It reprints the 1991 New Century Version of the Bible, designed to be simple to read.

“Compared to others, this is a very fast-moving Bible, and I’m sure it will top out the charts for the best-selling Bibles for a couple of months. We actually are out of them,” said Craig Stout, general manager of Christian Book & Gift stores in Olathe and Topeka.

“We’ve sold 20 already in two months, and I have another 24 on order. Half of those are spoken for.”

Clay Belcher, owner of Signs of Life, 722 Mass., the city’s only Christian bookstore, hasn’t seen a copy of Revolve yet, so he’s reserving judgment on it.

“I think it’s a great goal — the Bible can seem very formidable. Anything that we can do to help people get into is obviously an advantage,” he said.

“I would just have to take it on a case-by-case basis. If I felt it was irreverent or altered the intent of the biblical text, I wouldn’t be interested in carrying it.”

Tips, advice and Q&A’s

The Revolve cover features pastel tones, a photo of a trio of stylish teenage girls chilling out and splashy headlines like:

l “Are You Dating a Godly Guy?”

l “Beauty Secrets You’ve Never Heard Before!”

l “Guys Speak Out on Tons of Important Issues.”

The inside is just as much of a departure from your regular Bible. Revolve features the staples of teen magazines such as quizzes, Top 10 lists and advice Q&A’s.

Other sidebars include biographies of biblical women and even Bible-inspired beauty tips — “You need a good, balanced foundation for the rest of your makeup, kinda like how Jesus is the strong foundation for our lives.”

There are tips on prayer, volunteerism and calendars with celebrity birthdays, too.

But despite the Cosmo-style makeover, Revolve is still a Bible, including all the 27 books of the New Testament.

The question is, will it work at attracting teenage readers? At least a few Lawrence girls seem to think it might succeed.

“Yeah, I think that it sounds like a really great idea, trying to gear it more toward teenagers,” said Brandi Krones, 16, a junior at Free State High School.

She doesn’t have a copy of Revolve yet, but she was able to learn about it and see the cover by searching the Internet.

“It definitely looks like something I would pick up off the shelf. It has a lot of the same types of things that magazines do — the quizzes, question-and-answers, the beauty tips. It’s neat how they tie the Bible and different things about religion into that.”

Katie Heacock, also a Free State junior, took a glance at Revolve on the Web.

“It looks very interesting. On most magazines, what grabs my attention is stuff like quizzes, and that’s what’s on the cover of this Bible,” said Katie, 16.

“I think I would use both (Revolve) and a normal Bible. The newer one would help you to understand what’s going on in the older one and help you read and apply it.”

Skeptical about approach

Lawrence parents and youth pastors have expressed a desire to learn more about Revolve before they could recommend it to teenage girls.

“I would certainly be interested in taking a look at it. What would probably be the make or break decision for me is whether or not it stays true to the meaning of the Bible,” said Carolyn Heacock, student ministries pastor at Lawrence Free Methodist Church, 31st and Lawrence Avenue. She is the mother of Katie Heacock.

“But the concept is good, because more and more of our kids today, the idea of sitting down and reading something all the way through doesn’t appeal to them.”

The Rev. Steve Kawiecki, youth pastor of First Baptist Church, 1330 Kasold Drive, is skeptical about the packaging of Revolve.

“I think this translation would probably dumb down the Gospel. It’s almost like just another item for consumption. It sounds a little cheesy to me,” he said.

Kawiecki indicated he would much rather recommend that young people seek out the “Teen Study Bible,” “The Message” or “The Life Application Bible.”

“We’re probably not going to give that Bible (Revolve) away when we present Bibles to the kids. For heaven’s sake, the Bible is not ‘Cosmopolitan,'” he said.