Before we get back to Ezra and Nehemiah, here’s a story too pertinent to ignore: Sales of Bibles Are Booming, Fueled by First-Time Buyers and New Versions, by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg, Wall Street Journal, December 2, 2024.
The article opens:
Hallelujah! Bibles are a bright spot in books this year.
Worries about the economy, conflicts abroad and uncertainty over the election pushed readers toward the publication in droves. Bible sales are up 22% in the U.S. through the end of October, compared with the same period last year, according to book tracker Circana BookScan. By contrast, total U.S. print book sales were up less than 1% in that period.
“People are experiencing anxiety themselves, or they’re worried for their children and grandchildren,” said Jeff Crosby, president of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. “It’s related to artificial intelligence, election cycles…and all of that feeds a desire for assurance that we’re going to be OK.”
Cely Vazquez, a 28-year-old artist and influencer who has appeared on the reality TV show “Love Island USA,” recently bought her first Bible—one from the “She Reads Truth” line—at Barnes & Noble.
“I’ve had Bibles that my mom gave me, but I felt I needed my own to start my own journey, that it symbolized I was starting a walk with God,” she said. “I felt something was missing. It’s a combination of where we are in the world, general anxiety and the sense that meaning and comfort can be found in the Bible.”
The article continues:
The demand for Bibles is rising despite evidence that the country is growing increasingly secularized.
The Pew Research Center found that about 28% of adults in the U.S. now consider themselves religiously unaffiliated. Yet Bible sales rose to 14.2 million in 2023 from 9.7 million in 2019, and hit 13.7 million in the first 10 months of this year. Readers are also stocking up on related titles that provide guidance, insights and context—even sets of stickers to flag particularly meaningful passages.
The article closes:
Amber Cimiotti, a 38-year-old mother of two in Henderson, Nev., attributes the increase in Bible sales in part to podcasters and Tiktokers like herself sharing easily digestible stories about Christianity.
She started to read the Bible this year after feeling unfulfilled by years of advice on self-care, staying healthy and pursuing a career. She said she also sought stability as “things just went off the rails a little too quickly” throughout society. “We’re kind of holding on to the edge of the ship, like, we’re not sure what’s happening here.”
Rev. Blaine Crawford, pastor of the Irvington Presbyterian Church in suburban Westchester, N.Y., said he is seeing renewed interest in study groups. The Bible is a “grand epic story of the great questions of life. What do we do with grief or anger, what are we here for, where is the world going? The Bible provides a counterpart in a conversation about what we’re doing at this time.”
What’s the takeaway? Here are some suggestions. What do you think?
- There is a spiritual hunger out there, and we should be alert for it in our conversations with friends and co-workers.
- We shouldn’t be reluctant to share what the Bible means to us.
- We should be prepared to help folks in their spiritual journeys. For example, The Navigators’ 5x5x5 New Testament Reading Plan and The Time with God Weekly Journal.
- Here’s an example: Colorado Springs television news anchor Dianne Derby has written a marvelous book Two Hundred Tuesdays: What a Pearl Harbor Survivor Taught Me about Life, Love, and Faith about how 100-year-old Jim Downing invited her to do bible study. Like the Tik-Tok influencer, she, too, bought her first bible at Barnes and Noble. Jim’s invitation to Dianne is an example for us, and the book contains what he taught her. In July 2022, I wrote about their meeting.
- Finally, let’s pray that the Word will do its work.
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2.1 – 4, ESV)
And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8.3, ESV)