NEWS STORY: Massive Launch of New Bible Targets Young Market

c. 2005 Religion News Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. _ Even over latte at a coffeehouse, Andrew Apsite keeps God’s word close at hand. At the downtown Urban Mill, the 18-year-old reaches into his backpack and pulls out “The Message Remix,” a modern-language paraphrase of the Bible. “When I don’t know how to deal with something, […]

c. 2005 Religion News Service

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. _ Even over latte at a coffeehouse, Andrew Apsite keeps God’s word close at hand.

At the downtown Urban Mill, the 18-year-old reaches into his backpack and pulls out “The Message Remix,” a modern-language paraphrase of the Bible.


“When I don’t know how to deal with something, I look for comfort and advice on how to deal with my issues,” says Apsite.

He and his friend, 21-year-old Marcus Hills, are serious Bible readers. They’ve wrestled with the lofty King James Version and the more contemporary New International Version. They welcome any new translation that will speak to their generation.

“It’s the living word of God, man,” Hills says. “I know the lessons won’t change. But the wording is just a way of relaying the message.”

Count them as likely readers of Today’s New International Version, a new translation Zondervan officials hope will bring the message alive for millions of 20-somethings.

The Grand Rapids publisher this week released an unprecedented burst of Bible products amid a $1 million ad blitz, including a controversial plug Rolling Stone magazine first rejected, then accepted.

Zondervan’s prime target: 35 million to 40 million “spiritually intrigued” young adults from their late teens to mid-30s. Polls show they believe the Bible is relevant but are the least active Scripture readers of any age group.

“There are so many who passionately believe the Bible has something to say to them,” says Ben Irwin, Zondervan’s product development manager for the 18- to 34-year-old Bible team. “The flip side is there’s not much out there that’s meeting that opportunity. We’re hoping to reverse that.”


Shipped to outlets from Family Christian Bookstores to Barnes & Noble, Zondervan’s nine new Bible products include:

_ Today’s New International Version, an updated, gender-inclusive remake of the best-selling New International Version.

_ Men’s and women’s study versions of the TNIV.

_ “The Story,” a paraphrase in novel format with Tolkien-like maps.

_ “Beginning the Journey,” a kind of evangelism sampler containing Genesis, Deuteronomy, the Gospel of John, Acts and Romans.

_ An audio version of the New Testament.

These follow “Word on the Street,” a playful, street-lingo paraphrase released last fall. Along with a reality-TV-style video and an interactive Web site (http://www.TNIV.com), Zondervan executives hope the products will prompt more in the coffeehouse crowd to crack open the Good Book _ and more people of any age to dig deeper.

“We know we’re not going to convince the agnostic or the atheist who has absolutely zero interest in the Bible or Christianity,” Irwin says. “Our goal is to reach those who are searching.”

Through Harris polls and focus groups at Christian colleges, Zondervan found one of the obstacles to Bible reading is sheer size. At 66 books and 1,000-plus pages, the Bible is off-putting to readers routinely plugged into the Internet and iPods.


“One of the problems with a `big B’ Bible today is there’s never any sense of having finished or accomplished something,” says Paul Caminiti, Zondervan vice president.

Thus “little b” Bibles such as “The Story,” a 420-page tome with chapter titles like “Creation: Things Started Out Great.” Its narrative flow and elegant artwork resonate with a generation raised on popular media, says Irwin, 28.

“One of the things we hear again and again is the power of story to connect with this generation. They want something that’s real, something that’s raw, something that’s authentic.”

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

Calvin College students who reviewed the new Bibles found “The Story” and the five-book evangelism edition more exciting than the new translation, says Kate DeNooyer, who did research for Zondervan as part of a marketing class.

“They said, `This would be something I could give a non-Christian friend that would be less intimidating than handing them this huge book,”’ says DeNooyer, 20.

Still, Zondervan hopes more young readers will turn to the full Today’s New International Version, an updated translation by the same committee that produced the New International Version more than 25 years ago.


The TNIV produced storms of protest when the New Testament portion was published three years ago. Critics charged its gender-inclusive language undermined the biblical scribes’ intent.

Zondervan countered that just a fraction of the changes were gender-related, and that references to God and Jesus were not changed.

Caminiti defends the translation’s “uncompromising commitment to accuracy,” insisting it’s “not interested in the fads of language.”

He noted 77 percent of 20-somethings surveyed preferred its more modern language to the NIV.

“We knew we had a translation that spoke to this generation,” Caminiti says.

Maybe so. But at least some young readers question the need to change phrases such as Jesus’ “fishers of men” to “fish for people.”

“I don’t think it was a necessary change,” says Kelly Gordon, 21, a history major at Grand Valley State University. “Historical texts didn’t include women. I don’t think we’re so dumb today that we don’t understand that.”


Gordon is one of several members of a GVSU class on sacred literature who checked out the TNIV Web site. Most are skeptical of gender-inclusive language or that a new translation will attract younger readers.

“Just because they’re making it more gender-neutral isn’t going to get more 18-to-34-year-olds interested,” says Brandon Tarabek, 20. “You’re losing a part of the original meaning when you’re doing that.”

But Irwin is convinced the new Zondervan Bibles will bring more young adults into God’s word.

“There’s so much stuff about real life in there, about suffering, about people who wrestle with God and have doubts with real issues of faith,” Irwin says. “That’s stuff this generation can relate to, and sometimes they don’t even realize it’s there.”

MO/JL/PH END HONEY

(Charles Honey is a staff writer for The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press.)

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!