Anatomy of a Blank Bible
Matt Blair at The Foolish Galatian has posted a series of photos to Flickr documenting the step-by-step process involved in transforming a Reformation Study Bible into a multi-volume "blank" Bible. If you're curious about what a book binding looks like when the cover is stripped away, this pictorial is worth checking out. Matt takes a razor to the thing, separating the individual signatures. After looking at the photos, I feel a bit like King Agrippa -- almost persuaded. I'm still a little too squeamish to try something like this myself, though it looks like fun.
J. Mark Bertrand is a novelist and pastor whose writing on Bible design has helped spark a publishing revolution. Mark is the author of Rethinking Worldview: Learning to Think, Live, and Speak in This World (Crossway, 2007), as well as the novels Back on Murder, Pattern of Wounds, and Nothing to Hide—described as a “series worth getting attached to” (Christianity Today) by “a major crime fiction talent” (Weekly Standard) in the vein of Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin, and Henning Mankell.
Mark has a BA in English Literature from Union University, an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Houston, and an M.Div. from Heidelberg Theological Seminary. Through his influential Bible Design Blog, Mark has championed a new generation of readable Bibles. He is a founding member of the steering committee of the Society of Bible Craftsmanship, and chairs the Society’s Award Committee. His work was featured in the November 2021 issue of FaithLife’s Bible Study Magazine.
Mark also serves on the board of Worldview Academy, where he has been a member of the faculty of theology since 2003. Since 2017, he has been an ordained teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. He and his wife Laurie life in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.