Ignatius Study Bible NT has arrived!

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vladimir998

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After 12 years of waiting, the Ignatius Study Bible New Testament - all the New Testament books and commentaries in one volume - has arrived!

I got my copy yesterday. I was surprised by the size of the volume. I knew it was going to be 700 pages long - that sort of detailed study of each book was what I always enjoyed about the individual booklets released since 1998 - but I had no idea the book was going to be 10 x 7 inches and 1.5 inches thick as well. I got curious and checked both the Ignatius Press page and Amazon.com page for the Ignatius Study Bible New Testament and realized neither page (at least as of yesterday) actually listed dimensions for the book. How odd! I assumed this would be much more portable than it is.

The hardback I have is a beautiful dark blue with the same gilded icon design found on the Ignatius Bible Second Edition. It’s beautiful to look at. If Ignatius produces a black or dark blue leather version with the same design…wow, that would be gorgeous!

At the Ignatius webpage not too long ago Mark Brumley (spelling?) promised several features in the NT would be forthcoming that were not in the booklets. Wide margins was one of them. I don’t see them here. The margins - even though the book is quite large - is essentially the same as you would find in the booklets. The print is a larger font, as one would expect, so it is easier on the eyes.

There is a very handy concise concordance (boy, how many Catholic Bibles could use that?!). The words in the concordance are, of course, in alphabetical order. Each time they’re used in a verse they are in bold and the verse numbers are given to the right. Quick and easy to use.

There are several distinctive helpful indices: 1) Parable and Metaphors of Jesus (covering about 37 items by my quick glance count); 2) an index of miracles with the verses covering all four gospels for the appearance of those stories; 3) and most importantly an index of doctrines which is terrific!!! That last index will prove invaluable when doing apologetics!

There are also indices for the charts, maps, topical essays and word studies in the volume.

The price is very reasonable. I have not yet seen the paperback or leather version so I wonder what kind of paper will be used. Will it be thinner? Traditional Bible paper for the leather copy? I don’t know.

I do have a couple of questions for anyone here who might happen to be from Ignatius Press:
  1. When will we see the rest of the Bible released?
  2. Will Ignatius print a single volume version that is portable? It can be done. The editors of the ESV Study Bible did it. That Bible is very large, but it is still portable! The Bible is our book yet we are constantly outclassed by non-Catholics when it comes to the production of Bibles.
I must say that the overall handling of the roll out of this Bible has been dismal. Just dismal! Publicity? None. Set up? None. Accessibility to the public? None really. The way the Orthodox Study Bible was handled by its editors and publishing press was so much better than the entire 12 year run of the Ignatius Study Bible!

This is a great tool. Ignatius could easily make it much better. I hope it does!
 
Um, where did you order it from? Amazon has it listed as being released June 1st.:confused:
 
Are there any features lacking from the individual volumes, like the study questions at the end? Are the charts and maps the same as what was included in the individual volumes, or have these been expanded and improved as well (not that they were bad)? The release of this is just absolutely fantastic news! 👍
 
Sounds great. I ordered my copy though Amazon, and will be on the lookout for it to arrive. How is the binding on the hardcover?

I understand that the paper will be identical in all three editions.

As to when you can expect the Old Testament – well you can do the math. The Old Testament is roughly three times the size of the New Testament, and the New Testament took roughly a decade to complete. So if we extrapolate, we should have the full Ignatius Study Bible in about 30 years or so.

On the other hand, the editors have promised they’ll pick up the pace a bit.
 
Apparently the leather version of this study bible is still out of stock at Ignatius, which is where I ordered mine from 😦 I am looking forward to getting mine. The size for me is not a problem, if they make them too small the font size shrinks down with it. I am sure that all three versions will use the same paper as they do now in the Ignatius Bible RSV-2CE.
 
CalCatholic said:
I am sure that all three versions will use the same paper as they do now in the Ignatius Bible RSV-2CE.
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Sorry, but the paper is VERY DIFFERENT. The paper in the RSV2CE is smooth and has that finished feel to it as you would expect to find in a Bible. Even that paper is not the highest quality Bible paper (that would be India paper as used in Bibles put out by Cambridge). The paper in this Bible is much cheaper. It is not glossy, does not have that glossy feel to it.

I wonder about the leather version, however. Would they really waste a leather cover on a book made with slightly above average paper? Personally I can’t see any point to putting a leather cover on a book unless the leather is the best possible quality (even better than what was used in the leather covered RSV2CEs!).
 
Rolltide said:
Are there any features lacking from the individual volumes, like the study questions at the end?
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I don’t have the volume in front of me at this moment, but I do believe that the questions are in there. I’ll have to check tomorrow.
Rolltide said:
Are the charts and maps the same as what was included in the individual volumes, or have these been expanded and improved as well (not that they were bad)?
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There are charts and maps. I believe they are the same as in the original fascicles. There are also extra maps in the back - just like you find in the RSV2CE single volume Bible. A friend of mine who also got his copy recently has already started writing notes all over his and has now purchased the paperback as well! Bible loving Catholics will really enjoy this Bible. I just hope Ignatius produces a single volume Bible when all of the Old Testament is done!!!
 
Bible_Reader said:
So if we extrapolate, we should have the full Ignatius Study Bible in about 30 years or so.

On the other hand, the editors have promised they’ll pick up the pace a bit.
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Maybe. Rough drafts of much of the Old Testament have been done for YEARS - at least that’s what one of the editors told me! Supposedly, according to him (and he’s been disappointed by the slow pace at Ignatius), the Old Testament will be done and out in less than three years. I just don’t believe that at this point. Then again, Ignatius has been so incredibly secretive (or just not very market savvy) that no one outside of Ignatius has a clue as to when they’re going to put out ANYTHING from the Old Testament. If Ignatius had more market savvy and truly cared about their customers, they would have a dedicated website about the Bible. The site would have sample pages, insights discovered during the production of the Bible, interviews with the editors, etc. The people who put out the ESV Study Bible actually produced a video (!!!) to help market their Bible outlining the advantages and features of their product. All you had to do was go to Amazon.com and watch the video. I suggest all Catholics do that and then ask themselves if Ignatius will do that. The only thing more pathetic than the fact that we Catholics have had to wait for generations for a decent, orthodox English Study Bible is that we aren’t bright enough to make a big deal about it when we finally produce one!!!

I just wonder if Ignatius is smart enough to realize they NEED to put out a one volume version of the completed Bible just like the ESV Study Bible. If the Ignatius Study Bible ends up being an unwieldy, unportable desk book then it won’t seel nearly as many copies as it could and it won’t have the revolutionary impact on Catholics that it otherwise would.
 
vladimir998 said:
Then again, Ignatius has been so incredibly secretive (or just not very market savvy) that no one outside of Ignatius has a clue as to when they’re going to put out ANYTHING from the Old Testament.
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I read somewhere that Genesis would be appearing in Fall 2010.
vladimir998 said:
I just wonder if Ignatius is smart enough to realize they NEED to put out a one volume version of the completed Bible just like the ESV Study Bible. If the Ignatius Study Bible ends up being an unwieldy, unportable desk book then it won’t seel nearly as many copies as it could and it won’t have the revolutionary impact on Catholics that it otherwise would.
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I guess that Ignatius (a) lacks the resources that Crossway (the publisher of the ESV Study Bible) has; and (b) realizes that they have no competition in this space (unlike the ESV Study Bible, which competes against several Evangelical study Bibles)
 
vladimir998 said:
I wonder about the leather version, however. Would they really waste a leather cover on a book made with slightly above average paper? Personally I can’t see any point to putting a leather cover on a book unless the leather is the best possible quality (even better than what was used in the leather covered RSV2CEs!).
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At the price that Ignatius is charging, I doubt that they would do a run of a separate text block on high quality Bible paper; much less have a premium leather binding. Books that do that would be priced at over $60, and most likely over $100. As far as I’ve seen, none of Ignatius’s books represent premium book printing and binding (with the possible exception of the co-marketed RSV Bibles [not RSV2CE] with Oxford University Press, which are printed under the control of OUP.)
 
I was surprised to see that the RSV-2CE was not printed in the US>

Where is Ignatius Study Bible NT printed?

If this is just re-packaging of older study guides, I have to ask the question. Is it any good? Why?
 
Bible_Reader said:
I read somewhere that Genesis would be appearing in Fall 2010.

I guess that Ignatius (a) lacks the resources that Crossway (the publisher of the ESV Study Bible) has; and (b) realizes that they have no competition in this space (unlike the ESV Study Bible, which competes against several Evangelical study Bibles)
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The Navarre! Both Old and New Testaments.

It seems to me that there are three commentaries to particular have.

The Navarre
The Ignatius
The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (only a few out so far)

These three are all different and so are great to have together…complimentary.
 
Bookcat said:
The Navarre! Both Old and New Testaments.

It seems to me that there are three commentaries to particular have.

The Navarre
The Ignatius
The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (only a few out so far)

These three are all different and so are great to have together…complimentary.
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You are certainly correct that these are all interesting Catholic commentaries and they all nicely complement each other, but I don’t think they directly compete at all. The Navarre NT in hardcover costs about $80 and the Ignatius NT in hardcover (on Amazon) costs about $20. And the Navarre is more of a devotional commentary, and especially features the thoughts of St. Josemaría Escrivá (which makes the Navarre very useful and complementary to the Ignatius.)

I do think the Ignatius is addressed to much the same audience as the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, but the latter is really a multi-volume commentary (even more detailed than the Navarre.)
 
Bible_Reader said:
You are certainly correct that these are all interesting Catholic commentaries and they all nicely complement each other, but I don’t think they directly compete at all. The Navarre NT in hardcover costs about $80 and the Ignatius NT in hardcover (on Amazon) costs about $20. And the Navarre is more of a devotional commentary, and especially features the thoughts of St. Josemaría Escrivá (which makes the Navarre very useful and complementary to the Ignatius.)

I do think the Ignatius is addressed to much the same audience as the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, but the latter is really a multi-volume commentary (even more detailed than the Navarre.)
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Yes…that was my point they are not so much in competition really …they complement each other. (I use them all)

I would not characterize The Navarre as “more of a devotional commentary” …yes it does directly address the living of the Christian life…and yes it does quote St. Escriva (along with many others)…but i would not call it so much a devotional commentary. It is a commentary. And has certainly the plus of assisting in living the spiritual life. But It makes use of the Church Fathers…the Saints the Documents of the Church…Popes …Councils etc…also I would note that the prices vary according to which volume… and also the New Navarre Expanded Edition has even more of a focus on the Scriptures (where as the others do include more off shoot topics as well).

As to the other being more detailed than Navarre…again this is where the complementariness comes in…it has things Navarre does not have…and Navarre is very detailed in ways that it is not…

Hence again my point …all three are different …and thus go together nicely.
 
Quality, I would say, is what counts, not…Well, you know the rest. 🙂

I enjoyed reading your comments.

Gene
 
Bible_Reader said:
At the price that Ignatius is charging, I doubt that they would do a run of a separate text block on high quality Bible paper; much less have a premium leather binding.
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All I know is they’re selling the leather version for $39 at Ignatius.
 
Crumpy said:
I was surprised to see that the RSV-2CE was not printed in the US>

Where is Ignatius Study Bible NT printed?

If this is just re-packaging of older study guides, I have to ask the question. Is it any good? Why?
Click to expand...
It is printed in the US. The commentaries seem to be about the same, but as I said, the volume comes with a concise concordance, index of doctrines, etc.
 
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