If the bible transition was lost, would it not seem jarring? Why was the Dean going into his office in such a rush in the first place? And if, in the next immediate scene, he is shown to be sitting in a Church, it may seem out of the blue, and slightly sudden, with no link.

Instead, is there no way to 'freeze-frame' the camera when it is over the desk and then add an artificial zoom, so that after the newspaper is shown the sequence can then be 'unfrozen' and we can see the subsequent bible transition. Or is that not technically feasible? Would freezing the scene over the desk look too unnatural, with no other movement going on? But I was thinking that, as it is an office filled with inanimate furniture, pausing over the desk may not seem too unnatural.