From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

So many versions, translations, and editions, too little time - so confusing!
What are sound guidelines for finding the right Bible?

In this article, we explore how the explosion of Bible choices happened,
and what it all means.

Purchasing a Bible has never been more complicated. With so many competing versions - CSB, ESV, GNB, ICB, KJV, MEB, MEV, NAB, NASB, NCV, NIV, NKJV, NLT, NRSV, TM, TNIV, and so on - the alphabet soup of available English Bibles seems to range all the way from ABC to XYZ.

The experience of shopping for a Bible these days is a lot like going to the grocery store for orange juice. Once upon a time you found a few brand names, and beyond that the big decision was fresh or frozen. But now, seemingly infinite variations compete for your attention (and money). The other day I counted no fewer than 67 choices of orange juice in our local supermarket.

But the array of Bibles available today makes the supermarket juice display look simple by comparison. One leading religious bookseller offers no fewer than 3,130 different Bibles, in over thirty different translations and paraphrases.

You'll find not only many versions, but also a myriad of specialty Bibles. There are devotional Bibles, reference Bibles, parallel Bibles, and study Bibles (it seems every popular preacher has one). You'll find Bibles for men, Bibles for women, Bibles for children, Bibles for teens, Bibles for 'tweens, even Bibles for infants. There are Baptist Bibles, Charismatic Bibles, Reformed Bibles, and Roman Catholic Bibles. You'll find inclusive-language (gender-neutral) Bibles and multicultural Bibles. Even "Biblezines" that look like the fashion magazines at the supermarket checkout counter. The combinations and variations - the good, the bad, and the just plain horrible - are endless.

How Did We Come to This?

How did we get from relative simplicity to such complexity? One reason is the major change in the Bible publishing industry during the past thirty years. In prior generations, Bible publishers were mainly small independent companies, often family-run, whose primary mission was to disseminate the Word of God. Today, Bible publishing is big business. Bible publishing companies that account for over 80% of the U.S. market have passed out of the hands of their original owners and into the portfolios of large, diversified media conglomerates - organizations that have no commitment to Scripture except to profit financially from it.¹ In the United States about 25 million Bibles are sold annually, grossing over $1 billion for publishers and retailers.

The main motivation for Bible publishing has changed from sowing the seed of the Word to reaping the fruits of commercial success.

Another major factor in the explosion of Bible choices is the postmodernist mindset. Postmodernism's roots are in the writings of men like Soren Kierkegaard, who believed that all truth is subjective, and Friedrich Nietzsche, who taught that "there are no facts, only interpretations." Postmodernism has been the underlying philosophy of secular education for the past three generations, and thus it has become the prevailing outlook of society.

In postmodernism, there is no single reality. Everyone has his own "reality." The only absolute, certain, and fixed principle is that there are no absolute, certain, or fixed principles. Morals and ethics are relative. Authority relationships are discouraged; communal, consensus, non-hierarchical relationships are encouraged. Since all "truth" is relative, "truth" is decided upon by the group, and determined not by facts but by feelings. The moral code of postmodernism is tolerance and pluralism in all things. In the postmodernist mindset, the only intolerable thing is intolerance.

Next: Postmodernism's Influence on Bible Publishing and Translation

References:

1. Thomas Nelson, the largest Bible publisher in the United States, is owned by InterMedia Partners, a publishing and cable television holding company. Zondervan is owned by the HarperCollins subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which also owns (among its hundreds of interests) Fox Television, 20th Century Fox Films, professional sports teams, and tabloid newspapers around the world. Avon Books, another HarperCollins subsidiary, publishes The Satanic Bible.

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