Tuesday, November 18, 2008
ESV Study Bible
I purchased an ESV Study last night and am pretty excited about it. It's gotten excellent reviews and I think it will be a great aid for teaching and personal study. It did strike me though how expensive this bible is. Granted, I spent a little extra for the faux leather as opposed to the Dictionary-looking hardback version. The former retails at $74.99 and the latter at $49.99. I might not have taken plunge except that Lifeway was offering a 20% discount. Specific numbers aside though, I wonder about the ethical ramifications of producing and marketing a super-bible with a high price tag. I'm all for not muzzling the ox, but I really hope that these price points were considered in terms of kingdom impact and not just margins. I applaud The Standard Bible Society for making the ESV text freely available and searchable online. In this regard, anyone can read it.
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I thought about that too. The pre-sale had them much cheaper in the $30-40 range. I bet it was really expensive to produce. It's not just a Bible. It is a commentary, has all the maps, it has cross-references, there is the online component, they used leading scholars who deserve to be well-compensated, etc. And, $50 is all that much money anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if it was basically a break-even deal for the publisher; perhaps they are making a little for the leather versions.
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