Reader's Bibles

The Bible Readers Podcast ^ | N/A | Jeremy Sarber

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Bibliotheca Of course, one cannot talk about Bibles intentionally designed for reading without mentioning Bibliotheca. Although Zondervan’s Books of the Bible existed before Adam Lewis Greene came on the scene, the success of his Kickstarter project deserves most of the credit for the release of every reader-friendly Bible since. Thank you, Adam, and I’m sorry for what I’ll say next.

bibliotheca I love everything about Bibliotheca except the text itself. I don’t mean the typeface, which is a gorgeous original font. I’m referring to its translation, the American Literary Version, an update of the ASV. The language is just archaic enough to disrupt my flow when reading at times. That may sound strange coming from someone who grew up using the KJV, but I’m trying to explain why this aspiring minimalist with limited shelf space would rank Bibliotheca below its ESV and NIV counterparts, giving it away rather than keeping it. Two is my limit, and Bibliotheca falls third in line. You, however, may love everything about it including the translation.

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Adam Greene pioneered the Reader's Bible with his Kickstarter Bibliotheca Project. What's a Reader's Bible you may ask? Basically, a single column format Bible with chapters and verse numbers removed to provide distraction-free reading. There's something relaxing about the Bible just as a book.

I have the NIV Sola Scriptura set. Biblical books are arranged in chronological order, with a legible typeface and thick paper that doesn't bleed. Just perfect for reading! I'm awaiting the one volume NJKV Reader's Bible. I want something more compact than a multi-volume set.

In reality, this is not the first stab at it. Ernest Sutherland Bates pulled off in his now famous modernized KJV abridgment presented as The Bible As Living Literature. There is a market for drawing one closer to the Bible.

And the Reader's Bible serves that end very well, indeed.

[jeffc]

I always thought that Hagee’s Prophecy Study Bible was a good companion since I never learned ancient Greek, so I can’t read the original.....