Which Publishers Produce The Best Bible Books Study Materials?

I have a sort of contrarian perspective here. The best translations of literature are typically the oldest published versions, from the early part of the 20th century. This is because there is so much of value in the cultural filter of a translator. The translation becomes a sort of historical document of how the literature was perceived and assimilated by the English-speaking world of that era. I have a number of these very old published versions of Dostoevsky, some of which even I wouldn’t recommend to the general reader, for reasons already mentioned, yet they are of enormous value to the literary historian. For the enthusiast of literature with an interest in reception history, the old published versions are the ‘best’ in a totally different, meta sense.

The online NIV Study Bible is really cool for instant searches as well as copying and pasting scriptures to share with friends. The online study notes are just as detailed as the print, and I really like that you can change the font size online too. However, for quiet time / meditation I have not found the online format as appealing. There is something about physically tracing out words on a page that just does not translate to scrolling through a page online. Both versions of the NIV Study Bible are absolutely great, and there’s no discrepancy between the two versions regarding the study notes, etc. (other than I’d prefer the font size to be adjustable in print as well). While the online version is superior for sharing, researching, etc., the print version is better for personal meditation. It makes for such a more intimate reading experience, not to mention being sans notification and whatnots!

That is a very good question. A very accurate translation of the E-Book would depend on how one defines accurate. From a religious studies/historical perspective, I would say the most accurate translation would be one done from the best manuscripts, complete with footnotes pointing out problems in the text as they have been handed down through the centuries. Such a translation would be the Nickelsburg & VanderKam translation in the Hermeneia series. A very large and heavy book, literally and figuratively, the Hermeneia series translation does more than simply present the text in a new language. I would also be very interested to read a critical, accurate translation of the Mekanaim text. I assume you mean ‘most accurate’ in the sense of closest to the standard Ethiopic canon, as used by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church over the centuries. Thus an accurate translation would be one by August Dillmann (of course older) or, more recently, one carefully done in the tradition of the Ethiopic text without heavy emendation based on the Greek fragments. So in reality ‘most accurate’ would lead one in two different directions!

I’m a big supporter of author-run collectives or micro-presses. While ‘Heartspell Media’ (founded by authors for authors) and ‘Snowy Wings Publishing’ (a cooperative) are by no means perfect, they’re operating on a different ethos than the bigger conglomerates. For the most part, they’re much more collaborative, transparent, and responsive to feedback than their larger counterparts. As many are written by and for people within the genre of supernatural romance, they get the particular struggles of this genre too. They may not have the same marketing budget as the bigger companies, but they more than make up for it with their passion for the genre and their community-oriented spirit. Not only are the covers for books published by these presses frequently stunning because they hire from within the supernatural romance fan art community, but also the release dates for new books are generally coordinated so that authors are supporting each other. It feels much more like you’re buying from a family-run business than a large corporation. For those who want to be able to feel connected to the creative process of a particular author, these are the best place to go to find new voices. You’re not just buying a book; you’re supporting an entire ecosystem of artists and writers who are writing because they love the genre as much as you do. That emotional connection is powerful.

Possible but improbable. This system exists. The sales channels report on sales generated during the tracking week at all stores that are physically stocked. But the numbers are huge. Especially if a book is published as an e-book by an independent author and does not automatically reach thousands of physical stores. And even if it is published as print, the numbers needed to reach the Combined Print & Ebook list of a major title are huge. Meanwhile, indie e-books can reach the Ebook Fiction list with far lower numbers, as well as the Audio Fiction list. Still, it’s the New York Times. Note also that there are several lists published by The New York Times, including separate lists for ebook-only sales (e.g. Ebook Fiction) and for sales of audiobooks (Audio Fiction). The thresholds for these lists are lower than for the Combined Print & Ebook list, but still a significant recognition for authors and their work. Importantly, figuring out which list to aim for is half the battle.

This book has transformed the way that I read the Bible from a passive activity to something more interactive. I no longer randomly open up Bibles expecting to be inspired, instead I read with the question in mind, “What did this originally mean to the first audience of this passage?” Specifically the section on literary context has been extremely valuable to me. I had previously mistaken Jeremiah 29:11 for a promise that God would fulfill for my career, when in reality it was a message of hope to exiled Jews in another time and place. This is a “me-centric” way of viewing Scripture versus God’s greater story. Their sense of humor is also very effective in getting a point across, as with this example of bad interpretation: “Using a psalm as a weather report” is a great way to express this. I would recommend this book to someone struggling to get through Scripture or just feeling unfulfilled by their current methods of studying the Bible. Reading this book was like getting glasses after years of near-sightedness – suddenly everything is so clear and so much more detailed and rich.

I’m a tactile reader. I like apps to mimic the physical ergonomics of books. Google Play Books is surprisingly good at pinch-to-zoom, no blur at maximum zoom, and does cloud-synching of your libraries for you, which is great for me. Comic Screen is very good for reading manga and illustrated books. This application allows to isolate the panels and to zoom in very dynamically, it is frequently name-dropped by the producers of graphic novels in perk descriptions of their Kickstarter projects. Recently I also discovered ReadEra application, it has a split-screen mode to reference footnotes while keeping the main text enlarged. Bonus points for having no ads. The apps listed are not tools to read, they enhance your reading experience greatly. It’s cool that some indie comic artists list ‘Comic Screen’ in their Kickstarter perks for graphic novels.

The adult reader is a huge factor in determining whether this is a good read for a 10 year old or not. This is a fantastic family read or classroom read-aloud and discussion for kids this age. Read a chapter at night and then talk about daemons, who Dust might be, and why the Magisterium would be so afraid of this particular daemon. While a 10 year old reader may get ‘lost’ in the story or become scared of some of the content, they will be ‘guided’ by the adult reader. This will enable them to enjoy the ‘adventure’ of the story and to begin to consider some of the bigger philosophical ideas contained within the text. Thus while the book may not be suitable for a 10 year old reader on their own, it can be introduced to a 10 year old reader at an early age as part of a shared intellectual adventure with the adult reader. The book becomes suitable for the child’s age as well as for their reading age within the context of the adult reader.

A Holy Grail War, "Fate"-style, with the characters of the Bible instead of legendary heroes: Solomon, David, Samson, Deborah, Moses, Mary Magdalene... and their corresponding Noble Phantasms. That would be so cool as a fanfiction. And I'm pretty sure someone already wrote it. Adaptations of the Bible in anime are hardly ever found in official industry output, and are mostly restricted to the realm of fan works and doujinshi. But from within the world of anime and manga, these characters are constantly being reinvented for high school dramas, fantastical battles, or even romance comedies. They might not be directly connected to the original material, yet they are immediately recognizable by fans worldwide. In such Settings, the work can be rewritten entirely from scratch, while, at the same time, retaining the ‘spirit’ of their originals. Moreover, such creative interpretations are produced not within any framework of commercialized mass media but rather by fans themselves in their free time. They are completely ‘unofficial’ but at the same time extremely imaginative. Such creations often are far more popular and plentiful than their officially licenced counterparts.

Most references to missing books of the Bible are couched in terms that suggest that at some point in history the church either censored the Bible or even corrupted it. While this is how many people understand the situation of the so-called Apocryphal books (the so-called deuterocanonical books) not all scholars understand the situation in the same way. The KJV translators worked from a canon that had been previously established, even if that establishment was long and contentious in the early centuries of the church. When the KJV translators were picking and choosing what books to include in their translation they worked from a defined list of twenty-seven New Testament books as determined by the 16th-century Protestant reformers. The Apocryphal books, those considered to be outside of the canon, were the object of suspicion for centuries before the KJV was translated. Jerome even had reservations about including some of them in the Vulgate. In the end, the KJV is merely a snapshot in time of the on-going discussion of the early Christian church regarding the boundaries of Scripture. There was no stealing of books in the dead of night, only a long publicly-debated process of the church working out its theological convictions.