Ignatius Press can and should produce a complete, one-volume study Bible

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Thucydides

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The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible has been a favorite among practicing Catholics for a long time, but it was taking forever to come out. The complete New Testament came out in 2010, but the Old Testament volumes have been flowing at a very slow trickle ever since.

But then we all rejoiced when late last year, Scott Hahn confirmed that the whole Ignatius Catholic Study Bible is text-complete and will be published in 2020/2021!


But there’s a problem: there are rumors swirling that Ignatius Press is looking at publishing the ICSB Old Testament in two separate volumes, with no word on whether we are actually getting a complete study Bible in one volume. What’s worse, I keep seeing comments trying to let Ignatius off the hook from getting everything under one cover, allegedly because there is just too much material to fit into a single book.

Let me assure you that this is not true. It is completely possible to publish the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible in a single volume.

I just checked, and the current volumes of the ICSB Old Testament total 616 pages, and cover roughly 29% of the Old Testament. So that would mean a complete ICSB:OT would be at most 2150 pages or so. But it would actually be fewer pages. Every individual volume contains redundant pages that would be cut (title and copyright pages, general introduction to the ICSB series, etc.), and you could cut all the “study questions” sections (which I believe the ICSB:NT already did). It should be trivial to get the Old Testament under 2000 pages. Meanwhile, if you cut the concordance, the ICSB: New Testament is only around 550 pages. So you would be looking at a combined word count of at most 2550 pages, maybe less.

That is a perfectly ordinary page count for a study Bible. Protestant publishers put out study Bibles of that size constantly like it’s nothing (the ESV Study Bible is 2752 pages). But even Catholic Bibles get into that range regularly. The NABRE version of the Didache Bible is 2506 pages. The Oxford Catholic Study Bible is 2560. Heck, even Ignatius Press’s own large print RSV:2CE is 2158 pages. There is absolutely no reason one of the largest and most successful Catholic publishers in the English-speaking world cannot produce a one-volume study Bible from this project. No excuses.

An Ignatius Catholic Study Bible in three separate volumes will have very little impact. Only obsessive Bible nerds will ever bother with it. You simply can’t travel with a three-volume set easily. A single-volume ICSB might not be terribly portable, but it could easily fit into a backpack or large purse. More importantly, it would be a no-brainer as a confirmation gift for every confirmandus in the English-speaking world. There would finally be an obvious answer to the question “what is the best study Bible for the average Catholic?”

It would be a terrible waste if this whole wonderful multi-decade study Bible project proved to be a waste of time because Ignatius Press couldn’t be bothered to actually produce a study Bible at the end of it.
 
The problem with study Bibles is two-fold.

Any study Bible that is going to be complete is going to have several thousand pages and will be too bulky to be contained in one volume.

Any study Bible that is only one volume is going to have to leave out a lot of potentially important information.

If I were going to buy the Ignatius, I would prefer to buy it complete, and in as many volumes as necessary. However, a better idea would be to sell it as an interactive e-book.

D
 
Wait it’s coming out this year or next? Nice! I’ve been waiting for it forever.
 
Just my 2 cents - but why don’t Catholic Bibles use the same thin paper most Protestant Bibles use? It’s the onion sin type paper and it lasts forever and is much lighter. In my opinion, Protestants know how to manufacture a Bible. (talking structure - not contents)
 
Have you held one of the New Testament? It is a big book.

I can’t fathom lugging aroud the massive volume that one single binding would require. Heck, I’d imagine simply binding that many pages would be a feat.

I buy my study Bibles as ebooks, will buy the OT when it is released and will be able to carry it in my pocket.

My guess is they will offer a three volume boxed set.
 
That paper makes notes or hilights difficult (I was raised on those tissue paper Bibles)
 
I don’t mind the 3 volumes with the indexes and concordances and topical articles. For people who want a single volume maybe they could publish one without the indexes, concordances and topical essays so it wouldn’t be as bulky.
 
You’d still have the footnotes and book introductions. I think those are more important than the other stuff. Like I said I’m fine with three volumes and the whole package, but some people would prefer one volume.
 
Here’s the problem:

Study Bibles are for study. The bigger the Bible, the harder it is to travel with.

The large, bulky Bibles are often considered “altar Bibles,” “table Bibles,” or “family Bibles“ as they are not really meant to leave the house.

While you personally might be keen to buy a large study Bible and bring it to Bible studies, etc; many are not.

So it might be best for them to simply do it under 2 or 3 volumes. I’m sure there is a lot of money they need to recoup so they can continue their ministry.

But even if they come out with a 2 or 3 volume study Bible first, doesn’t mean they will never come out with a consolidated, single volume for those who really want it.

God Bless
 
Dlee said:
Just my 2 cents - but why don’t Catholic Bibles use the same thin paper most Protestant Bibles use? It’s the onion sin type paper and it lasts forever and is much lighter. In my opinion, Protestants know how to manufacture a Bible. (talking structure - not contents)
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Some do, but that paper makes the Bible more expensive. Some of the Catholic publishers like Ignatius Press are actually pretty small companies compared to the Protestant Bible publishers.

Also, the thin paper makes it harder to use a highlighter & pen to mark passages.
 
Gorgias said:
One word for you: e-book.
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Nobody buys ebooks as gifts, many people don’t like ebooks at all, and even among those who do, many wouldn’t want their primary study Bible to be an ebook.
phil19034 said:
Here’s the problem:

Study Bibles are for study. The bigger the Bible, the harder it is to travel with.

The large, bulky Bibles are often considered “altar Bibles,” “table Bibles,” or “family Bibles“ as they are not really meant to leave the house.

While you personally might be keen to buy a large study Bible and bring it to Bible studies, etc; many are not.

So it might be best for them to simply do it under 2 or 3 volumes. I’m sure there is a lot of money they need to recoup so they can continue their ministry.

But even if they come out with a 2 or 3 volume study Bible first, doesn’t mean they will never come out with a consolidated, single volume for those who really want it.

God Bless
Click to expand...
People carry around large study Bibles all the time. It is extremely normal, especially among Protestants, to carry one around in a backpack, or at least to bring one to church and Bible study. It could be normal among Catholics too, if we had a study Bible worth carrying around. Nobody actually reads “family Bibles” or “table Bibles”, and absolutely nobody lugs around three-volume sets. There are vastly more Christians of all stripes who would buy a single good study Bible than who would buy a three-volume set of anything. Only nerds with academic pretensions buy three-volume sets of anything Bible-related.
 
So was I, but it was never a problem for me. I’ve used ink, highlighters, etc. Mainly just an ink pen.
 
Thucydides said:
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Gorgias:
One word for you: e-book.
Click to expand...
Nobody buys ebooks as gifts, many people don’t like ebooks at all, and even among those who do, many wouldn’t want their primary study Bible to be an ebook.
phil19034 said:
Here’s the problem:

Study Bibles are for study. The bigger the Bible, the harder it is to travel with.

The large, bulky Bibles are often considered “altar Bibles,” “table Bibles,” or “family Bibles“ as they are not really meant to leave the house.

While you personally might be keen to buy a large study Bible and bring it to Bible studies, etc; many are not.

So it might be best for them to simply do it under 2 or 3 volumes. I’m sure there is a lot of money they need to recoup so they can continue their ministry.

But even if they come out with a 2 or 3 volume study Bible first, doesn’t mean they will never come out with a consolidated, single volume for those who really want it.

God Bless
Click to expand...
People carry around large study Bibles all the time. It is extremely normal, especially among Protestants, to carry one around in a backpack, or at least to bring one to church and Bible study. It could be normal among Catholics too, if we had a study Bible worth carrying around. Nobody actually reads “family Bibles” or “table Bibles”, and absolutely nobody lugs around three-volume sets. There are vastly more Christians of all stripes who would buy a single good study Bible than who would buy a three-volume set of anything. Only nerds with academic pretensions buy three-volume sets of anything Bible-related.
Click to expand...
Honestly, I haven’t seen any Christians (or know of any) that carry LARGE study Bibles to their church for worship services. The ones I know who carry large study bibles in their backpacks are usually ones that a) are taking their Bibles to an academic (or religious) class or b) to a bible study.

The Bibles I’ve seen taken to church are relatively compact (to very compact) non-study Bibles.
 
PeterT said:
The Bibles I’ve seen taken to church are relatively compact (to very compact) non-study Bibles.
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That’s my motto …

Prayerfully Studying God’s Word - puts one in Contact with the Author
 
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