A $300 Bible Designed To Make The ‘Good Book’ Look More “Trendy”

The following report is from the Washington Post:

At first, social media users weren’t sure if it was an elaborate April Fools’ joke. It was, after all, April 1 when the billboard appeared above New York City’s Canal Street advertising a Bible with a $300 price tag.

The limited edition, art-inspired GPC NIV Bible is described on its website as a “modern version of God’s Holy Word” and an “ambitious project, elevating the aesthetic to God’s Holy Word with artisan qualities.” Those qualities include gold foiling on its “striking crimson red Soft Touch cover” and sustainably sourced paper. The title of each book was lettered by New York City artist Eric Haze.

Rooted in humility with an ambitious mission, we set out to build a fresh, relevant brand around the best selling book in history — the Holy Bible.

The Good Publishing Co. website

Relevant Magazine called it “Hypebeast-inspired content.”

Commenters on Instagram asked if the Bibles had been autographed by God and quoted Jesus’ admonition: “Do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”

But “premium” Bibles aren’t new.

While they may not carry the same steep price tag, a number of new and traditional Bible publishers are stressing the beauty of an old-fashioned book and the experience of slowing down to read at a time when so much of life is lived online.

There’s a long tradition of Bibles being published, even hundreds of years ago, that were trying to use the finest materials to honor the legacy of the text.

Tim Wildsmith. The pastor and blogger behind Bible Review Blog

Wildsmith, who reviews all kinds of Bibles on his blog, said he hasn’t seen a copy of the GPC NIV Bible in person to know if it’s worth several hundred dollars, but it’s not much more expensive than some other premium Bibles. The most expensive by publishers like Schuyler or R.L. Allan & Son are around $200 to $250, he said.

I think that having a beautiful version of the Word of God is actually a way to honor the sacredness of the text and the high value we place on it in our lives.

Plus, he said, millennials — the generation that popularized Instagram — care about the way things look and feel.

In the last decade, independent projects like Bibliotheca have brought that same reverence and an eye for design to Bibles at a more modest price tag — and have shown big Bible publishers there’s a market for it.

Bibliotheca’s Kickstarter, launched in 2014 by book designer Adam Lewis Greene, envisioned a “design-conscious alternative” to traditional Bibles, according to its website. That meant splitting the Bible from one giant tome into four volumes (plus the Apocrypha), each with proportions based on the measurements for the Ark of the Covenant. Inside, a typeface designed exclusively for the project presents the sacred text without chapter and verse numbers, subheads and other notes that usually appear in Bibles.

It’s geared toward an enjoyable reading experience.

Greene said in the video introducing the Kickstarter

The project became Kickstarter’s most-funded first-edition book project to date, far exceeding the crowdfunding goal the designer had set.

Traditional Bible publishers took note.

In 2017, Zondervan published the NIV Sola Scriptura Bible Project, which, like Bibliotheca, breaks the Bible into four volumes without chapter and verse numbers or other notes.

That same year, Holman Bible Publishers partnered with Bible study community She Reads Truth to publish the She Reads Truth Bible, described on its website as “inherently beautiful” and “intentionally designed.”

The She Reads Truth Bible includes reading plans, devotions and maps and charts for each book of the Bible similar to those shared on the She Reads Truth app, website and study books. It also is available with several different covers, including a bright poppy linen, and features hand-lettered key verses at the introduction of each book and typefaces designed for readability.

At She Reads Truth, we believe in pairing the inherently beautiful Word of God with the aesthetic beauty it deserves. Each of our resources is thoughtfully and artfully designed to highlight the beauty, goodness, and truth of Scripture.

Simply put, beauty in our work matters to us because we believe it honors God, the beautiful one and source of beauty.

Amanda Bible Williams. Co-founder of She Reads Truth, said in an email to Religion News Service.

Another recent project is Alabaster’s The Bible Beautiful, which is reimagining each book of the Bible as a single volume, printed on thick paper with original photography and attention to typography and negative space. So far, it has released 16 books.

For Alabaster co-founder Brian Chung, it was a matter of making the text accessible.

When Chung became a Christian in college, he said he was excited and also intimidated by his first Bible. It was leather-bound with extremely thin pages. Some of the words were printed in black. Others were red.

I was just not like any book that I had experienced.

Bryan Ye-Chung

Sitting next to it on his desk was his marketing textbook, designed to look like a magazine. It was the first time he said he felt excited to read a textbook — and it gave him the idea that eventually became Alabaster, co-founded with Bryan Ye-Chung.

I think as someone that was studying both business and design, I just thought, ‘Could the Bible be done differently?’

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

[18] For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: [19] And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Revelation 22:18-19

[5] Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. [6] Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

Proverbs 30:5-6

For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

2 Corinthians 2:17

A WinePress contributor sent me this and I just gut-busted laughing when I saw this. For those that are new to the whole multiple versions fiasco, what these Bible correctors said is standard operating proceedure for these liars. They put on this facade that they are so reverential to “THE Word of God,” but they’ll change it whenever they need to, to suit their wicked agenda.

But since these new versions have no spiritual power or substance behind them, their popularity continually dies out. So what happens is, is these translators and companies have to rebrand their new versions a hundred different ways on an annual basis to try and bank as much MONEY as possible (1 Timothy 6:10).

When the Good (Bad) Publishing Co. mentioned the “best selling book,” they “conveniently” leave out the very obvious fact that the best-selling Bible is the KING JAMES BIBLE! But every single Bible perverter must compare themselves to the KJB in some fashion because it is the true word of God and they know it.

This is the type of garbage as to why more and more people are leaving the church buildings, as explained in detail in our report about that.

[19] And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. [20] For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. [21] But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

John 3:19-21

The key verse is verse 21. It does not say “doeth good:” it says “TRUTH.” No one can do good (Romans 3:12; Ecclesiastes 7:20) except Jesus Christ. But this is why there is a major exodus from the church buildings. The buildings are built upon lies themselves, but the utter nonsense that goes on in these places are reprehensible at best. All atheists, agnostics, new agers, and many false converts, want to live in sin without conviction. In order to do that truth must be removed and denied. This is why the underlying philosophy with atheists is what Pontius Pilate told Jesus:

[37] Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. [38] Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

John 18:37-38

The more these new versions and rebrandings of them are produced, the more atheism and sin abounds. Why? Because truth has become distorted and corrupted. This is the sole purpose behind the new versions. It is designed to create RELATIVISM. “I have my truth, and you have your truth.” Therefore philosophy and “situation ethics” replaces truth. And non-believers know this. Deep down they know what the truth is but they wish to hide from it. So when the religious hypocrites come out with thousands of reiterations of “God’s perfect and inspired word – God breathed,” atheists and new agers who have exponentially far more discernment, morality, prudence, and equity, can see through the con game.

[1] Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? [2] And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: [3] But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. [4] And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: [5] For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Genesis 3:1-5

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