The Brick Bible

Brendan Smith is the creator of The Brick Testament (NOTE:  Some material on his site and in his books is offensive).  He is an atheist, but creates Bible stories illustrated with Legos.  He has already released The Brick Testament: Stories from the Book of Genesis, The Brick Testament: The Ten Commandments and The Brick Testament: The Story of Christmas.

In October of this year The Brick Bible: A New Spin on the Old Testament will be released. There isn't any indication what stories will be included, but it is only 240 pages.

The Voice New Testament: Revised and Updated

It appears that November will be a busy month for new releases of the Bible.  N. T. Wright's New Testament, the Expanded Bible and The Voice New Testament:  Revised and Updated will all be released this winter.

The Expanded Bible

Many of  you have already heard about the Expanded Bible:  New Testament.  It is available on Amazon in either hardback or in a very inexpensive paperback.

The full Bible is due to be released in November of this year.  It is available for pre-order on Amazon.com.  It will also be available in imitation and bonded leather formats.

The Arian Christian Bible

I am not sure yet what to think about the The Arian Christian Bible. You can preview it on Amazon or on Google Books. It is translated by the Institute for Metaphysical Studies. Charles D. Levy is listed as the director but there is no mention of who actually translated this version.

The book of Matthew eliminates the genealogies in the beginning. The book of John is excluded completely. The preface states that the book of John is "a stone among diamonds."  The IMS website states:

The 'Arian Christian Bible' reflects the beliefs of Arian Christians, which should not be confused with 'Aryan' race based doctrines. Arian Christians believe that Jesus' highest teachings are reflected in his words, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke and the rejection of the politically imposed divinity of Jesus inspired by the Council of Nicaea which was convened by the Roman church and Emperor Constantine I, in 325 AD.

Please post comments if you get a chance to read through any of this version.

Two Free Portions of the Message Version

Christian Book Distributors have two parts of the Message Bible by Eugene Peterson free in e-book format. It is in epub format - readable on many devices and computer reading programs. I converted it to mobi format for my Kindle using Calibre. Christian Book Distributors also has a book reader built in. Go to "My Account" then to "eBooks." You will see the e-books you have purchased. Each one should have a "Download" link as well as a "Read eBook" link.

I found out about this offer from Books on the Knob, an excellent place to find out about free e-books. Please note that site will lists many different kinds of books (some of which are offensive).

Pickering's New Testament Translation

Wilbur Pickering's New Testament Translation is now complete. It is available for download on his site. Also available are miscellaneous comments on the the text as well as his New Majority Greek Text based on his "Original Text Theory."

Quaker Bible

I have added the two volume "Quaker Bible" by Anthony Purver (1764) to the Bible Reader's Museum Store. The actual title of this Bible was "This is a facsimile reprint of Anthony Purver's "Quaker Bible" from 1764. The actual original title was "A NEW AND LITERAL TRANSLATION OF ALL THE BOOKS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT; WITH NOTES CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY." Original copy was Herbert's number 1154.

Bible Difficulties

Every student of the Bible knows (or should know) that some things in the Bible are hard to understand. One site that helps with this is the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry Bible Difficulties page.

The reason I mention the site here (other than being useful for Bible study) is for the purpose of finding changes in Bible versions. Some translators and revisers will change those difficult verses to help clarify the meaning. The list of "difficult" verse can help locate changes and sometimes identify translation biases.

New Facsimiles

I've added some new facsimiles to the Bible Reader's Museum Store. New to the store are an Authorised NT (1611); George Joye's Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah and Jeremiah (1531-4); George Joye's Psalms (1530); George Joye's Daniel (1545); George Joye's NT (1534); Myles Coverdale's Goostly Psalmes (c1539) and Rychard Jugge's NT (1553). All are listed under Facsimile Bibles (actual copies of the originals).

New and Intersting Bibles and Versions Blog on Kindle Subscription

This blog, New and Interesting Bibles and Versions is now available as a Kindle Subscription.

International Society of Bible Collectors Annual Meeting

According to Bible Editions and Versions the Annual Meeting of the International Society of Bible Collectors will be held October 28-29, 2011. It will be at the Dunham Bible Museum at Houston Baptist University (7502 Fondren Road, Houston, TX). I have not heard anything about hotel/motel arrangements. The ISBC web site is not updated much at all (member sites are not added, the home button doesn't work, etc), so only last year's conference is listed. But when I get more information I will post it here.

I attended last year's conference and had a wonderful time. There were several good talks given, interesting tours and a lot of great fellowship. There are usually some neat Bibles, leaves and books for sale as well. I look forward to going again this year. I hope to meet some of you that I've corresponded with via e-mail!

If you haven't joined the ISBC yet, go ahead and join now! Membership is just $30 USD per year. This included subscription to the journal, Bible Editions and Versions. If you purchase a lifetime membership for $500 you will receive a lifetime BEV subscription and several books on CD (I believe this includes Chamberlin's Catalogue of English Bible Translations). For full details, contact Mr. Ohlhausen, the membership director. You can find his contact information on the ISBC Contact Page.

Special Sales

I have added several items to my Special Sales page. These are limited quantity items left from sales at church/Museum displays. All prices are below the normal cost via the museum store. I have added a copy of the Johannine Decapla, 2 copies of the Bible Version Encyclopedia, several copies of the Scripture Sample Book, 5 copies of God's Timeless Word, 5 copies of the Bible Lover's Puzzle Book, 10 display folders with King James Bible Leaves (1613-1650) and 3 leaf books with both a Geneva Bible Leaf and a King James Bible leaf. Visit the Special Sales page for details and ordering.