Cambridge Beat Me to Bible Yoga
How's that for a title? As a wise man once said, there's nothing new under the sun. Bible Design Blog has inspired a number of people to post reviews of Bibles, and my "yoga" pose (in which I roll up fine leather covers in ways that make the purists cringe) has been widely imitated. Turns out, though, the idea isn't original to me. Chris Scotti has been in Christian publishing for years, and he recalls something similar being done in training seminars back in the 1980s:
In the old days in Christian retail (1980s) Cambridge used to have Bible sales training seminars and the easiest way to get a customer to spend the extra $20-$50 was to roll up the berkshire cover and let it unroll itself. Something you could never do with a bonded leather. They also used to give sales clerks an incentive of 1 free Bible of your choice when you sold 10.
Ah, the good old days, when trained and knowledgeable retailers stocked quality Bibles that you could walk in and touch. I don't know which one I miss more: the bricks and mortar shops, or the mere $20-$50 premium.
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.