The ESV Study Bible, which debuted last month to stellar sales, is going digital.
Crossway Books & Bibles is planning to make the 2,750-page Bible resource available on popular digital platforms like the iPhone and Blackberry.
The digitalized study Bible will also be accessible through Mac, PC, Windows Mobile, Palm, Google Android, and Symbian.
"We are excited to make the ESV Study Bible widely accessible, initially in a wide range of best-selling print editions, and now in every possible digital format available," said Lane Dennis, president of Crossway Books & Bibles, in a news release.
The Bible publisher said it intends on retaining all the unique features of the ESV Study Bible – including over 100 articles, 20,000 notes and dozens of maps – in the digital versions through a partnership with leading digital software providers such as Accordance, Biblesoft, Laridian, Olive Tree, and WORDsearch.
"Our goal as a Christian publisher is to distribute the Bible and essential resources for understanding the Bible as broadly as possible around the world," stated Dennis.
"It is a tremendous encouragement to me personally to see this goal become a reality as the ESV Study Bible will soon be available virtually anytime, anywhere in the world, by means of the new media revolution and our partnership with these digital software leaders."
The effort to convert the ESV Study Bible into digital formats comes after the book became the best-selling study Bible last month, having sold more than 140,00 copies in four weeks.
The first 100,000 copies were sold out even before it debuted in mid-October, prompting Crossway to send the Bible back for a second printing of 50,000 copies, with third printing of 50,000 soon to follow.
Among other features, it contains over 200 full-color maps based on images captured using NASA satellite technologies, more than 100 articles on a wide range of topics ranging from worship to religious cults, and about 40 detailed illustrations on historic sites and artifacts such as Solomon's Temple and Jerusalem.
The ESV Study Bible, based on the English Standard Version Bible, was produced by a group of 95 Bible scholars, representing 10 countries, 20 denominations and over 50 seminaries and universities.
The study Bible, which its makers say is equivalent to a 20-volume Bible resource, is highly praised by many evangelical leaders, including J.I. Packer, among Time magazine's top 25 influential evangelicals; R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Mark Driscoll, pastor at Mars Hill megachurch; and John Piper, author of Desiring God.
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I like that these things are becoming more and more available electronically. However, I just cannot get used to reading from a screen.
Maybe I'm just getting old...
Mathetes: Yes I was being facetious, as I often am when I comment. I agree with you about needing a good KJV for whomping.
Someone flagged me. Someone who is WAY too serious.
Everyone knows you need a good 16 lb. KJV if you're gonna whomp someone upside the head.
chicago, I trust you were being facetious, as was I. I thank God for Olive Tree's Biblereader on my cell phone. I have used it in witnessing because it's always with me. Plus I can work on sermons anywhere, like a doctor's waiting room, etc. It's better than last year's magazines.
How is a Baptist minister going to shake an iPhone at the congregation as opposed to a leather Bible. . . . It just won't be the same.