A love letter to Crossway
Every summer I teach at Worldview Academy, which means I'm on the road for two months straight. As I write this, my packing has yet to be done ... but I have at least decided one thing: which Bible to take with me. Ruggedness and portability are the factors I look for. In the past, I've traveled with the Cambridge Pitt Minion, the R. L. Allan Compact Text, the Single Column Journaling Bible from Crossway, and the Cambridge Clarion. As a rule, I bring only one. Not this time. Thanks to Crossway I'm packing three editions this summer, though only one is a full Bible. The ESV Reader's Bible will be my main read, supplemented by the ESV Pocket New Testament and Crossway's lovely new edition of The Psalms. One of them just about made me cry, and one of them nearly got me killed. All three are going to be featured in reviews next week, but for now, here they are:
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who works in Bible publishing at Crossway. This is a love letter of sorts, because I love the work you do. It's hard to believe that some of my earliest writing on this subject -- long before Bible Design Blog was founded -- concerned the lack of support for the English Standard Version (especially the absence of a wide margin edition). Now the ESV seems to be the best supported translation out there ... and you keep doing more. I would call your magnificent range an embarrassment of riches, only it's no embarrassment: it's what the Bible deserves. Seeing the Reader's Bible and The Psalms together, I'm overwhelmed how far we've come. They are beautiful in design, well made, and affordable -- and to me they symbolize the thing I love about the way you've approached the whole enterprise of Bible publishing. Instead of one-size-fits-all, instead of any-color-so-long-as-it's-black, instead of focusing on moving the maximum number of units, you've made Bibles that serve the varied needs of readers, and you've been open to taking risks in the interest of making those Bibles better and better.
I'm sure it's a challenge sometimes when you release a new edition and somebody like me says, "Great, now we need ten more slightly different variations!" But you're always gracious about it, and you keep adding wonderful new editions to the shelf. So ... thank you. For all you do. From all of us.
Next week we'll look at the Reader's Bible, the Pocket New Testament, and The Psalms in depth. And while I'm on the road, I will check in with more insight into their use.
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.