CNA Staff, Dec 5, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).
Is the Bible — already the most widely printed book of all time — having a moment?
As recently reported by the Wall Street Journal, Bible sales — across a variety of editions — rose 22% in the U.S. through the end of October 2024 compared with the same period last year, according to book tracker Circana BookScan. This is despite nearly a third of U.S. adults identifying as religiously unaffiliated.
In contrast, print book sales overall rose just 1% during the same period.
Experts cited by the WSJ attributed the rise in Bible sales to readers seeking solace and meaning amid growing anxiety and uncertainty in the culture; the emergence of new Bible versions and formats catering to diverse preferences; and strategic marketing campaigns to reach new audiences, such as young people wanting to make their faith their own by buying their own Bible.
Several prominent Catholic publishers told CNA that they, too, are riding this wave of increased Bible sales, with many attributing the rise to a spiritual hunger among Catholics to dive into God’s word for themselves.
A biblical ‘moment’ in the culture
For Word on Fire, the Catholic media and publishing apostolate founded by Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, the “Bible boom” has been very tangible.
Brandon Vogt, senior publishing director at Word on Fire and general editor of the Word on Fire Bible series, told CNA that the apostolate has sold over half a million volumes of the Word on Fire Bible since launching the product in 2020, far outpacing their own expectations.
“We ordered 50,000 copies, which to us seemed like a lot, and we expected those would last for at least a year or two. Shockingly, we sold out the leather copies within 24 hours and most of the hardcover and paperback editions within a few weeks. Sales haven’t slowed since then,” Vogt said.
Jon Bator, Word on Fire’s senior director of sales and marketing, added that the apostolate was “certainly blown away” by the series’ popularity and has “since struggled to keep up with the consistent demand” — in part because the leather-bound volume is printed in Italy.
“The monthly demand has been fairly consistent, even with very little marketing and promotion,” he said.
Word on Fire’s approach to creating its Bible was to “lead with beauty,” Bator said, which means making the Bible itself a beautiful object — taking great care with the volume’s artwork, typography, binding, and materials. Beyond that, the book includes commentary from a wide range of voices, most prominently Barron himself, who is a sought-after preacher.
“By leading with beauty in both design and content, it is especially meant to appeal to those who — whether they fully know it or not — are restlessly seeking the Lord,” Bator added.
Vogt said he believes that the Bible is having a cultural “moment.”
“From Jordan Peterson’s biblical lectures on Genesis and Exodus, which drew millions of views on YouTube and sold out arenas across the country, to Father Mike Schmitz’s ‘Bible in a Year’ podcast, which for a time was the No. 1 podcast in the world, to Bishop Barron’s weekly YouTube sermons, which draw hundreds of thousands of viewers each Sunday, we’re seeing the Bible presented in fresh and exciting ways and people are responding. The Word on Fire Bible offers just another example,” Vogt said.
“People have grown weary of the ‘your truth, my truth’ paradigm and are hungry for the truth, which is partly why many are turning back to this ancient text which claims to be the very Word of God, not just one word among many.”
‘A revolution in Catholics reading the Bible’
Ignatius Press, which has been a major name in Catholic Bible publishing for decades, recently announced a new study Bible created in concert with professor Scott Hahn’s St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology that is already contributing to the ongoing Bible boom.
The new Ignatius Catholic Study Bible includes the complete text of the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition of the Bible, plus notes, detailed maps, introductory essays for each book, and over 17,000 footnotes and thousands of cross-references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The notes aim to clarify the historical and cultural context, explain unfamiliar customs, and illuminate theological themes, emphasizing the interconnectedness of the Old and New Testaments.
Mark Brumley, president of Ignatius Press, told CNA he sees the recent surge in Bible sales as a reflection of a growing hunger for God and spiritual guidance in society. The new Ignatius Catholic Study Bible has already sold about 40,000 copies, with at least 20,000 more expected to sell from the current print run, he said.
Ignatius already sells approximately 100,000 copies of various editions of its Ignatius Bible line annually, and Brumley confirmed that the company has seen a “steady increase” in interest and sales in recent years.
“I’m not surprised that this is happening. I see signs of it in my own Catholic parish and in different places around the country, that Catholics are reading the Bible,” Brumley said in response to questions from CNA during a Dec. 2 press event.
The Bible is “a place where increasingly Catholics go to understand what God has said and done in history … I’m not surprised that Bible sales are up. We’re at a point in the Catholic Church, I think, where we’re seeing almost a revolution in Catholics reading the Bible.”
Brumley told CNA he sees the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible as a complementary resource rather than a replacement for other Bibles. He expressed excitement about the diverse range of Catholic Bibles available, recognizing the contributions of other publishers like Ascension Press and the Augustine Institute.
He said he hopes the new Ignatius Catholic Study Bible will help Catholics in not just reading the Bible but understanding it in its entirety.
“We’re allowing Catholics to have access to the Bible and to kind of improve their game in reading Scripture, so that Bible teachers and Bible professors can come along and bring them yet to even a higher level … I’m happy that they’re going to have this tool available to them to help them go deeper and come to know Jesus more solidly.”
The ‘explosive factor’ of ‘Bible in a Year’
Beginning in the first days of 2021, the “Bible in a Year” podcast, read in its entirety by popular Minnesota priest Father Mike Schmitz, climbed the podcast charts and dethroned several of the most popular secular podcasts for a few weeks, going on to be downloaded more than half a billion times.
Jonathan Strate, CEO of Ascension, the Catholic publishing company that produces the podcast, told CNA that “Bible in a Year” (BIY) has been an “explosive factor” driving Ascension’s Bible sales.
Already a popular item, the Great Adventure Catholic Bible, which is formatted to be read in concert with BIY, remained sold out for months after the launch of the podcast at the beginning of 2021.
While unable to quantify whether or not its own Bible sales boom contributed to the nationwide trend, Strate said the company “certainly hope BIY has been a factor in this revival.”
“We find that BIY is both bringing in new audience members and also inviting current members to repeat the journey year after year. We hear from audience members who repeat BIY annually and find new insights and meanings every year,” he told CNA, adding that Ascension continually receives requests from customers for additional Bible products on top of what they already offer.
In addition to the Bible itself, Ascension promotes its color-coded Bible Timeline Learning System, created by Bible scholar Jeff Cavins and designed to help people understand “how the big picture of salvation history fits together.”
“Many people have struggled to read the Bible for years because they’ve never been taught that it tells the story of God’s salvation of humanity from the beginning of time until now. Having this insight, and the color coding on every page, helps them make connections they never have before. Understanding what they’re reading helps them fall in love with Scripture and want to keep returning to it again and again,” Strate said.
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I first read the Bible (KJV, cover to cover) after my English and French BA studies because I realized so much of that literature is connected to the Bible.
The second time around, I listened to Fr. Schmitz’s podcast. I’m grateful for the way the Ascension Bible laid out the readings, especially the begat and numbers and battles books. And Proverbs.
It looks as if I might have to check out some of those newer Bibles too.
So much to learn, so little time!
My advice, especially for first-time readers, is not to start with the KJV. There are a number of newer, better translations, including the RSVCE, that are based on the KJV but without the archaic language. However, I still favor the KJV for the Psalms. Also, I advise anyone to start with the NEW TESTAMENT, not the Old Testament. If you start with the Old Testament, it is too easy to get bogged down.
All the dynamics mentioned by CNA’s McKeown including Word on Fire, Mark Brumley’s explicit hunger for God certainly relate. Beneath the positive is the absence of direction, purpose in a world teetering off its rational bearings. There’s no comparative rationale that compete’s with the Bible’s complete account for our existence on planet earth.
Raw fear of the unknown triggers search. Science offers explanations of how things work, not why we’re here, why has society gone amok sexually, why the increase in violence, the escapist drama of those with means living as if Beaches is the answer. Trump’s unexpected victory reflects a grasp for answers. Although the soul within us knows he’s not the Messiah.
Our human soul created in God’s image is inbuilt with those pressing questionnaires on why we’re here, what’s the answer, does the Bible offer the reasoned response? A Synod on Synodality, the subversion of Catholicism into a social work service is tragic. People seem to know better. It’s only the ambitious clerics who seek attention and upward mobility under this pontificate that are advocates. The realistic minded want another look or at least a first serious look at this biblical saga of the advent of a Messiah.
“Although the soul within us knows he’s not the Messiah.” Sheesh, my left pinky toe knows THAT. It’s an insight on par with noting, “The soul within us knows that Kamala Harris is not the Queen of Heaven.”
When I was a young man we never studied the Bible in class. We knew that the Catholic Bible was St. Ann’s. That Bible is not in the list of “authorized” Catholic Holy Books. I do remember when the Protestant St. James Bible was forbidden. My dear friend was a Methodist. Should we include President Trump’s Bible “God Bless the USA?”
MorganD, what do you mean by “the Catholic Bible was St. Ann’s?”
Polish author Roman Brandstaetter once penned a moving essay, just after the Millennium of Polish Christianity when there was also a jump in Bible sales. In the essay, the Bible — shoved atop a top shelf in one’s library — laments that it’s never read, never taken down, never thumbed through, largely there for decoration and nominal expression of faith. “Why did you buy me?” is the cry. Hopefully, let’s remember that and make sure that — as felicitous as a boom in Bible sales is, let it be followed by one in Bible reading.