Spread the Word!
Historically, the Bible society movement was founded on the belief that Bible distribution, leading to more and better Bible reading, would in turn lead to more and deeper evangelism (see my March 20, 2007 blog in the archives). A Bible society is not a commercial, competitive business venture. Anything that’s good for the Bible and for its readers is something we’d like to see spread. In this spirit, we are hopeful that others will freely borrow ideas from The Books of The Bible. We’d love for readers of all translations to have Bibles that invite them to move beyond snacking on Bible verses to eating whole books.
The history of the Bible shows that changes in formatting were introduced by those who copied, printed or published Bibles. There was no church council that met and mandated the additives. It’s quite appropriate for Bible publishers to be the ones who undo the changes that in fact hinder good Bible reading.
No doubt Bible readers have become used to many of these changes, even to unnecessarily rely on them. But it’s a sacred text that we are publishing. Our obligations go deeper than consumer preferences. Anyone who sells Bibles has the responsibility to lead Bible-buying markets well, not just follow them wherever they may go. As a publisher we have the power to shape expectations as well as meet them.
Here at IBS we’ve had our consciousness raised on this issue, largely because of our work on The Books of The Bible. We’ve come to believe that the first rule of Bible formatting should be: do no harm. The visual presentation of the text on the page should not obscure the Bible’s inherent literary forms. Additives should not distract from or disrupt continuous reading. We’re not perfect, but we are beginning to think this through. We hope to apply this thinking to more Bibles in the future, even Bibles that still have some of the additives. And, as I said above, we really would like to see this movement grow.
Here’s how you can help. In today’s market-oriented environment, publishers will listen when those who purchase Bibles speak. Simply contact the publisher of your favorite Bible translation and encourage them to consider producing their own editions without all the additives. Most publishers can be easily reached through the “Contact Us” section on their website.
Go ahead and speak up. Let’s challenge the dominant Bible-publishing paradigm.
De-Versify Now!
-Glenn
The history of the Bible shows that changes in formatting were introduced by those who copied, printed or published Bibles. There was no church council that met and mandated the additives. It’s quite appropriate for Bible publishers to be the ones who undo the changes that in fact hinder good Bible reading.
No doubt Bible readers have become used to many of these changes, even to unnecessarily rely on them. But it’s a sacred text that we are publishing. Our obligations go deeper than consumer preferences. Anyone who sells Bibles has the responsibility to lead Bible-buying markets well, not just follow them wherever they may go. As a publisher we have the power to shape expectations as well as meet them.
Here at IBS we’ve had our consciousness raised on this issue, largely because of our work on The Books of The Bible. We’ve come to believe that the first rule of Bible formatting should be: do no harm. The visual presentation of the text on the page should not obscure the Bible’s inherent literary forms. Additives should not distract from or disrupt continuous reading. We’re not perfect, but we are beginning to think this through. We hope to apply this thinking to more Bibles in the future, even Bibles that still have some of the additives. And, as I said above, we really would like to see this movement grow.
Here’s how you can help. In today’s market-oriented environment, publishers will listen when those who purchase Bibles speak. Simply contact the publisher of your favorite Bible translation and encourage them to consider producing their own editions without all the additives. Most publishers can be easily reached through the “Contact Us” section on their website.
Go ahead and speak up. Let’s challenge the dominant Bible-publishing paradigm.
De-Versify Now!
-Glenn
1 Comments:
We recently received our copy of "The Books of the Bible" just in time for me to read Romans for a seminary class. I enjoyed reading it straight through --paragraph by paragraph, thought by thought -- just like book.
This is a Bible I would highly recommend.
The only other thing that would make it better is printing it on "regular" paper instead of thin "Bible" paper.
My wife and I have searched for a Bible made like that, but we've yet to discover one.
I'm told that would make the whole thing much thicker, but if you folks could figure out how to do it, that might open a few doors to other readers.
Thanks!
Jason
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