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The news that there will be a new translation of the New International Version (NIV) has been somewhat overshadowed by the simultaneous announcement that its much-criticized revision, Today's New International Version (TNIV), is to be scrapped.
Both developments are of great significance to the Christian retailing world, where the core Bibles market has become increasingly competitive in recent years. As we noted in a report earlier this year, Christian stores' Bible sales in 2007 covered more than 7,000 SKUs. That's a lot of variations on a theme.
Those behind the NIV and TNIV--the Committee for Bible Translation, Biblica and Zondervan--have launched a Web site (http://www.nivbible2011.com/index.php) explaining the move and inviting comments and questions.
At the Zondervan blog (http://zondervan.typepad.com/zondervan), President and CEO Moe Girkins says that she hopes the new edition will be "the first step toward an NIV that's even easier to read and understand, and that it will continue to find its way into the hands and hearts of millions."
Critics of the TNIV have responded to the news of its demise: Randy Stinson, president of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (http://www.cbmw.org/Blog/Posts/CBMW-leader-very-encouraged-by-NIV-announcement) and Albert Mohler, president of Southern Seminary (http://www.cbmw.org/Blog/Posts/The-NIV-Announcement-A-Statement).
Not everyone is happy about the announcement, though: http://www.emergingwomen.us/2009/09/01/zondervan-the-tniv-and-gender/
Here (http://www.biblica.com/bible/cbt/index.php)
you can find details of the team that will be working on the new NIV.
What do you think? Let us know by joining the conversation at our Christian Retailing Community forum, https://www.christianretailing.com/index.php/retail-focus/forum. |
Austin Carty, contestant on CBS' Survivor and Christian speaker, talks about his new book, High Points and Lows, releasing from Plume/Penguin on Jan. 26.
To mark the release of Bruce Wilkinson's Sept. 15 release, You Were Born For This, Multnomah Books has repackaged the author's other popular titles in the same simple textual design of the new book. 
The author of the new book explains what it means to be introverted in an extroverted world and how the church can create a welcoming environment for all personalities. 
Margaret Feinberg talks about her experiences in writing her newest release, Scouting the Divine. Feinberg spent time with shepherds, a beekeeper, a farmer and a vintner in order to get up close and personal with some of the Bible's most powerful imagery. 
Reinforcing its latest marketing slogan of: "25,000 apps. And counting," iPhone has added applications tied to a book that was a focal point of the surprise hit movie Fireproof.
I remember my first trip to a University of Tennessee football game in Knoxville, Tenn. Fear gripped my heart when I realized I hadn't worn any team colors, fretting I'd be the biggest oddball of the bunch in the big, orange sea of supporters questioning my knowledge of the team's history. 