A new prayer compilation that rewrites some of the best known prayers and psalms in the Bible to address issues such as fair trade and developing world debt is to be published by the Church of England.
The new book offers a radical reworking of the Lord's Prayer and Psalm 23, The Lord is my Shepherd. It has been undertaken by an African pastor, Zephania Kameeta, who was formerly vice-president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia.
He tackles issues such as fairness and freedom and seeks to inspire those praying and working for harmony, fairness and freedom around the world.
In the 23rd Psalm, the passage "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death" has been replaced by "Even if a full-scale violent confrontation breaks out I will not be afraid, Lord".
The new works appear in Pocket Prayers for Justice and Peace and is compiled by the charity Christian Aid. It will be published in October by Church House Publishing, the official publisher of the Church of England.
It also includes a version of the Lord's Prayer that begins: "Our father who is in us here on Earth, holy is your name in the hungry who share their bread and their song."
Paula Clifford, the publications manager of Christian Aid, said: "Some of this might be thought to be radical, but we hope the book might enable people to see things in a new light.
"After all, Christians in Namibia are going to see things, like the 23rd Psalm, in a different way from Christians in a different setting.
Commenting on the rewriting of the 23rd Psalm, a spokesman for the Church of England said: "This is one person's version of one psalm and it does not alter the Psalter that is used by the Church of England."