First Snap of the New Year

Glimpse

Jan 11

Back in town after a long vacation, I snapped a picture at last night's Bible study. I'd brought along my Cambridge Pitt Minion ESV -- it's such a convenient format for carrying -- while my wife had her new Allan's Reader's Edition ESV. Here's the scene:

For backup, I had the ESV Study Bible on my phone. The gloves were necessitated by the weather outside, which was (to quote the song) frightful. While my wife took notes in her trusty slimline Filofax, formerly my trusty slimline Filofax until she saw it, I tried out a new Rhodia flip pad I gifted myself for Christmas.

One thing I kept noticing was how bright and white her Bible seemed. I think the Cambridge paper is less see-through (something I pick up mainly in the poetry sections), but the Reader's Edition offers higher contrast.

It's a good thing we had room to spread out!

J. MARK BERTRAND

J. Mark Bertrand is a novelist and pastor whose writing on Bible design has helped spark a publishing revolution. Mark is the author of Rethinking Worldview: Learning to Think, Live, and Speak in This World (Crossway, 2007), as well as the novels Back on Murder, Pattern of Wounds, and Nothing to Hide—described as a “series worth getting attached to” (Christianity Today) by “a major crime fiction talent” (Weekly Standard) in the vein of Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin, and Henning Mankell.

Mark has a BA in English Literature from Union University, an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Houston, and an M.Div. from Heidelberg Theological Seminary. Through his influential Bible Design Blog, Mark has championed a new generation of readable Bibles. He is a founding member of the steering committee of the Society of Bible Craftsmanship, and chairs the Society’s Award Committee. His work was featured in the November 2021 issue of FaithLife’s Bible Study Magazine.

Mark also serves on the board of Worldview Academy, where he has been a member of the faculty of theology since 2003. Since 2017, he has been an ordained teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. He and his wife Laurie life in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

http://www.lectio.org

First Snap of the New Year

Blank Bible Rebind Project by Paul Sawyer

R. L. Allan Reader's Reference Edition ESV