Summer Schedule
Every summer, I pack my bags and hit the road, lecturing across the country in conjunction with Worldview Academy. The weeklong camps, hosted at universities throughout the US, focus on practical theology, apologetics, and leadership training. While it's a wonderful experience, something I love doing, the usual consequence for Bible Design Blog is silence during the months of June and July.
Not this year.
I've planned something special for you during Summer 2012. For the last few weeks, I've been feverishly writing and photographing and even filming, creating enough content to guarantee that Bible Design Blog will not only not go silent in June and July, but will be updated more frequently than ever before.
In June, we'll be looking at the R. L. Allan Compact Text ESV (in four colors), the Personal Size editions of the New Cambridge Paragraph Bible, and a unique KJV/RV interlinear published by Northern Ireland's Crimond House. We will also check in with my well-loved four-year-old Cambridge Pitt Minion to see how it's holding up, and take an inside look at how book blocks are assembled. At the end of the month, we'll also look under the cover and see the inner workings of two types of binding: paste-off and edge-lined.
In July, after a peek at Hendrickson's facsimile 1611 Edition of the KJV, we'll go in depth with a series of recent R. L. Allan editions: the HCSB in luxurious crimson Highland goatskin, the new NIV bound in a less limp brown goatskin that I absolutely adore, and the NRSV in brown Highland goatskin (a truly welcomed edition for lovers of that strangely under-represented translation). We will also have a look at a series of interesting vintage editions: a mid-century masterpiece printed in Italy, a letterpress Gospel, a three-volume KJV that (for me) doesn't live up to the hype, and the fascinating Eric Gill-designed Aldine Bible. At the month's close, we have beautifully produced edition of the Hebrew Gospels.
Along the way, expect a surprise or two. The fun kicks off this Monday, June 4, with a look at the Cambridge Pitt Minion in brown split calf, and it won't let up for the next nine weeks!
So I have two favors to ask:
(1) Tune in. If you haven't already bookmarked the site or subscribed to the RSS feed, now is the time. We're going to have a lot of content coming out in a relatively short amount of time (especially by BDB standards), so don't miss it.
(2) Talk about it. I always appreciate being linked to, re-blogged, tweeted, etc. The videos included in some of the reviews are simple to embed in your own posts and share. Help a brother out and spread the word.
PS ... One of the things I enjoy about traveling cross-country is the opportunity to meet Bible Design Blog readers in person. My schedule this summer follows Worldview Academy's Northeast route, and includes weeks in St. Paul, MN; Deerfield, IL; Upland, IN; Grove City, PA; Rochester, NY; Keene, NH; and Lancaster, PA. If you're in or around those locations, send me an e-mail and let me know.
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.