August 18th, 2008
Here are recent posts from the ESV Study Bible Blog:
August 15th, 2008
Olive Tree Bible Software has released BibleReader for iPhone. The ESV is available for $24.99.
Download it from the App Store on your iPhone or iPod Touch.
Rick at This Lamp reviews BibleReader.
August 13th, 2008
Peter at Beauty of the Bible writes about the many translations he’s read (and continues to read). Of the ESV, he writes:
I have found the ESV to be both highly accurate and highly readable. I am seriously considering making my ESV my bookbag Bible (it fits perfectly in the pocket). And, although I have never been to a church where the pastor preached from the ESV (that I know of), it seems that everyone has a pocket-sized ESV (in matching color of course) in a backpack or purse ready to whip out at a moment’s notice. You might as well get one too.
Concerning Peter’s comment about the recurring note on adelphoi, the word does get a couple of sentences in the ESV preface in addition to the note that appears eighty times in the New Testament.
August 11th, 2008
August 7th, 2008
A Crossway press release:
Wheaton, IL—China will provide 10,000 free Chinese-English bilingual Bibles to be distributed in the Olympic Village where the Olympic athletes and media are housed, as reported by the China Daily newspaper. The bilingual Bible text will include the CUV (Chinese Union Version) and the ESV (English Standard Version), appearing in two side-by-side columns per page. The CUV Bible is the most widely distributed Chinese Bible in the world, and the ESV Bible has recently become the fastest-growing English language Bible in the world.
In addition to the 10,000 bilingual CUV-ESV Bibles, 30,000 New Testaments and 100,000 bilingual editions of the four Gospels will also be made available at the Olympic Games.
Because cultural and academic leaders in China are seeking to understand the influence of the Bible on the worldview and culture of the West, there is a growing interest in Chinese-English bilingual Bibles in mainland China. “We are especially grateful,” Crossway President Dr. Lane Dennis notes, “that the ESV was selected by Chinese Christian leaders for publication with Chinese CUV Bible, through our partnership with the British and Foreign Bible Society. Since both the CUV and the ESV are ‘essentially literal’ Bible translations, they are ideally suited for a side-by-side comparison of the two languages. What a wonderful thing it would be if thousands of people would learn English—and Chinese!—by reading the Bible in side-by-side bilingual editions.”
The CUV-ESV (Chinese-English) Bible was printed in May of this year at the new Amity Printing plant in Nanjing, China. A special CUV-ESV commemorative edition was produced and given to guests attending the opening ceremony of the new facility. Since the late 1980s, with the support of the United Bible Societies, Amity has produced 55 million Bibles, 43 million of which have been distributed through Churches in China and another 12 million were produced in English and other languages for Bible publishers and Bible Societies in many countries. The Christian population of China is estimated by some to be about 7 percent, or 90 million, of China’s 1.3 billion people. This represents a one hundred-fold growth in the number of Christians in China since the Communist came to power in 1948, when Protestant Christians in China numbered approximately 900,000. The new Amity Printing plant, covering more than 400,000 square feet, will significantly increase Bible printing capacity to 12 million copies per year, to help meet the rapidly growing need for Bibles.
“It is a great joy for all of us at Crossway Bibles to have a small part in providing God’s Word to the church in China through the publication of the CUV-ESV bilingual Bible,” says Dr. Dennis. “We pray that this is just the beginning—of building partnerships with the church in China for the publication of Bible resources that will help meet the needs of the Chinese people.”
Crossway is a not-for-profit ministry and an international leader in the publication of Christian books, the ESV Bible, and gospel literature. Celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, Crossway (also known as Good News Publishers) has distributed more than 2 billion books, Bibles, and gospel tracts since it was founded in 1938. Crossway will mark its 70th anniversary with the publication of the ESV Study Bible in October 2008.
August 6th, 2008
ElShaddai Edwards at He Is Sufficient notes some recent changes in the layout of the Bible section of his local Christian bookstore.
It sounds like (we can’t be sure) the store has started using Zondervan’s Total Bible Solution 2.0 materials, an industry-wide merchandising system introduced in February 2008. Bookstores using TBS can choose to arrange their Bible sections by translation or by category, with the former being most common, as the trade journal CBA Retailers+Resources reported (login required) in its March 2008 issue:
“Tyndale recommends allocating shelf space based on how customers shop. For most customers the first point of decision is translation, and based on the data we’ve seen, it’s probably the primary factor in choosing a Bible. The second factor would be felt need,” [Mary Chapman of Tyndale] says. “Merchandising Bibles together that meet the same felt need will decrease walk-out rate. For example, the best-selling modern-language translations such as the NIV and NLT should be merchandised together. Additionally, make sure you give each Bible translation shelf space based on your in-store sales as well as market share across the industry.”
The adoption of new Bible-specific BISAC category codes in January 2008 by publishers and retailers allowed the unified merchandising. All Bibles fall into one of eight categories: Children, Devotional, General, New Testament & Portions, Reference, Study, Text, and Youth & Teen.
The previous category system, Christian Product Codes, had two levels of organization. The top-level categories were: Audio, Children’s, Devotional, New Testament, Parallel & Interlinear, Reference, Scripture Portion, Specialty & Misc, Study, Text, Topical, and Youth & Teen. The sub-categories were either a translation and additional qualifier, or one of the following: Bride’s, Catholic, Compact, Family, Gift & Award, Large & Giant Print, Men’s, One Year, Pastor & Preaching, Personal Size, Pew, Thinline & Slimline, Wide Margin, and Women’s.
The new BISAC system reduces the number of translation/category combinations to around 170 from around 640. The ESV’s BISAC numbers are BIB003000 through BIB003070—not that you’ll ever need to know them.
Have you ever wondered what training booksellers receive about the Bibles they sell? Zondervan and Thomas Nelson (plus, to a lesser extent, other publishers) both produce Bible-training kits for bookstores.
As of this writing, Zondervan’s Bible Training is available online for anyone to browse. It consists of nine lessons, with a few just added recently. The ESV gets mentioned in Lesson 3, “Help Your Customers Choose a Translation.” (We could only get the site to work in Internet Explorer.)
If you’re interested in a particular translation or edition, we encourage you to do research before heading to your local Christian bookstore. Visit publishers’ websites for the official story. Sites like Bible Researcher or even Wikipedia can provide you helpful third-party information. Talk with your pastor or a Christian friend for advice. Then visit booksellers for their perspective. It’s often helpful to hold a Bible in your hands before you buy it, and Christian bookstores almost certainly have a wider selection of Bibles than other stores.
August 4th, 2008
Ben at Exploring College Ministry writes about the trends he’s seeing in college ministry. Among them:
The ESV. Even if you’re still unfamiliar with the English Standard Version, don’t be surprised if plenty of your students are using this Bible translation (and if some of your local churches are, too). While Crossway’s early marketing didn’t push the ESV very quickly when it was introduced several years ago, word-of-mouth and newish pocket editions have continued to [grow] the user base quite steadily (as I’ve continued to see this year).
August 1st, 2008
Stephanie at The Wear House shares the story of her third wedding anniversary (including pictures). It involves flowers, dinner, and a TruTone ESV, though not in that order.
July 30th, 2008
Jack Graham, Pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church, discusses why he switched to the ESV:
However, 18 months ago I made the decision to choose and use the English Standard Version as my primary reading and preaching/teaching Bible. I made this decision as a result of personal study and careful evaluation. The reason for such change is the balance of accuracy, clarity and readability found in the ESV….
Obviously, it is very important that you select a Bible you will use. The Word of God is our spiritual food for daily strength and the powerful testimony of God’s eternal Truth. Love it. Read it. Mark it. Memorize it. Live it. Trust it. Share it. I always encourage believers to bring their Bibles to worship services and interact with the Scripture as it is delivered from the pulpit. Large screens with Scriptural support for the message are no substitute for actually holding and handling God’s Word.
Jack Graham is also a Crossway author.
July 28th, 2008
The blogger at Tymetraveler’s Tale shares how he came to use the ESV:
Then out of nowhere into my life in 2007 comes the English Standard Version. It had been around for six years, but I had not heard of it. I investigated this “essentially literal” translation and was blown away…. In the past year I have purchased five ESV Bibles, all in different sizes, shapes, colors and formats, and have already given one away. It is the version used by our pastor and appears to be used by the majority of our denomination. The English Standard Version is right on and I hope it becomes the standard for the body of Christ.
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