The most popular Bible of the year is probably not what you think it is
Daniel Silliman ("The Washington Post," August 28, 2015)
Americans don’t lack access to the Bible, but it remains a big business for
publishers in the United States. In fact, 88 percent of Americans have a
copy of the Bible in their homes, according to a 2015 report from the Barna
Group. Most homes have more than one copy, and nearly a quarter of people
have more than five. Nevertheless, 13 percent of Americans said they bought
Bibles within the past year.
So why do Americans seem to have an insatiable appetite for Christian
scripture?
A new study Bible out this week underscores how simmering questions about
the accuracy and authority of translations drive demand for new versions of
an old text. A mix of firm authority and breezy accessibility seems to be
key to the commercial success of many study Bibles.
No official sales projections are publicly available, but if history
provides a guide, the “NIV Zondervan Study Bible” could easily sell 100,000
copies by the end of the year — probably a lot more. The new study Bible by
Zondervan, a Christian publishing house in Grand Rapids, Mich., owned by
HarperCollins, could follow earlier blockbuster sales. The last NIV study
Bible,
published by Zondervan in 1985, sold more than 9 million copies.
The Bible business is booming. There are annual sales of 40 million Bibles —
from study Bibles to family Bibles to pocket Bibles. That’s not even
counting foreign markets. As journalist Daniel Radosh observed, “The familiar
observation that the Bible is the best-selling book of all time obscures a
more startling fact: The Bible is the best-selling book of the year, every
year.”
The proliferation of Bibles underscores the anxieties people have about
whether or not they are reading the right Bible. Concerns over accuracy and
interpretation are especially true among religious traditions that distrust
secular scholarship on the Bible.
One of the Bible’s most popular translations is the NIV (New International
Versions) and newer versions, like the ESV (English Standard Version) also
sell remarkably well.
With a list price of $49.99, the New International Version Study Bible has
about 20,000 verse-by-verse notes, plus introductions to each book,
overviews of sections of scripture and 28 articles on topics such as “Sin” and
“
Shalom” written by Reformed and evangelical scholars.
The new Bible is designed to compete with the English Standard Version
study Bible, which had 100,000 pre-orders when it first sold in 2008. The “ESV
Study Bible,” which retails for about $25 hardback, has since gone on to
sell more than 1 million copies.
The “ESV Study Bible” is actually only one of 19 Bibles that have sold
more 1 million copies in the past decade. The editors behind Zondervan’s new
offering are undoubtedly looking for the same sort of sales, and there’s
reason to believe they will get them.
The robust market does not alleviate anxieties about the Bible’s
accessibility, though. There are persistent concerns that despite being so
widely
available, people struggle to understand the Bible. In a recent report from
the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana
University-Purdue University Indianapolis, 44 percent of people who read the
Bible
said they needed help with interpretation.
That’s one reason footnoted study Bibles, as opposed to the kind of Bible
you might see in a hotel room, are so popular.
“My aim is to help people read their Bibles with more understanding and
self-application and more ability to read themselves and their culture and
their churches in the light of God’s most holy word than they might otherwise
be able to do,” said D.A. Carson, the general editor of the new “NIV
Zondervan Study Bible
The anxiety over kinds of Bibles — aggravated by the market — creates a
demand for new, more authoritative works. Some of the most popular study
Bibles are designed to reassure readers of the text’s accuracy and authority,
while at the same time promising to be easy to read.
The “Holman Christian Standard Bible Study Bible,” for example, is
currently one of the best-selling study Bibles on Amazon.com. Most of Holman’s
contributors either graduated from or taught at a Southern Baptist seminary,
and the work is committed to the conservative Southern Baptist understanding
of the Bible. It preserves traditional theological terms such as “
justification” and “sanctification” and rejects gender-neutral language.
The Holman study Bible’s introduction makes clear that the translators and
commentators started with fixed theological commitments and reassures
readers the text is orthodox.
Advertisements for the Holman study Bible also note that it has been market
tested, however. Extensive audience research went into the development of
the book, with focus groups around the country determining the most
appealing presentation of the information. The book is promoted as being easy
to
read, even by those not familiar with the Bible.
One edition of the Holman study Bible that color-codes the text according
to 12 important theological themes, including “God” and “sin,” has sold
more than 1 million copies.
The authority and accessibility can be seen in the “ESV Study Bible.” John
Piper, a prominent voice in evangelical and Reformed circles, endorsed the
work as “a dream come true” because of this balance.
“It combines a kind of balance between accuracy, faithfulness, readability
and dignity in an unusually good proportion,” Piper said. “This is going
to be a phenomenally useful tool for the church.”
The “NIV Zondervan Study Bible” is appealing to the same market of people
who want a reliable, traditional text that’s easy to read.
The theological profiles of the the ESV and NIV study Bibles are very
similar. Editors of both volumes are connected to the Gospel Coalition, a
network of Reformed churches. Many of the contributor to the two volumes have
common affiliations at evangelical and Reformed institutions. A few scholars
even worked on both study Bibles. The new work is also endorsed by a
prominent pastor, Tim Keller. In a promotional blurb, Keller calls the 63 men
and
3 women who contributed to the NIV study Bible “the best assembly I’ve
seen of faithful, international scholars.”
Like the “ESV Study Bible,” the “NIV Zondervan Study Bible” affirms clear
evangelical commitments. According to the subtitle, the Zondervan study
Bible is “Built On The Truth Of Scripture And Centered On The Gospel Message.”
Zondervan is touting the new work as “unique,” in part because it is based
on a more popular translation of the Bible. The NIV is the second
most-read version of the Bible in the United States, after the King James. In
America, where the Bible is still big business, that means big sales
potential.
“I hope,” Carson said in a promotional video for the new study Bible, “it
will help many many millions of believers around the world understand the
Bible better and therefore God better … . This current NIV has huge
potential for helping English-speaking Christians around the world. Not only
those
for whom English is their first language, but also for millions and
millions and millions of people around the world for whom English is their
second
language, to understand the Word of God in a way that is translationally
faithful, but at the same time contemporary and not too technical.”
>From a certain perspective, the Bible market might look glutted. From
another, a new study Bible with the right profile is a very hot commodity.
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