Thanks to two readers for alerting me that Mark Brumley (CEO of Ignatius Press) shared some photos of the upcoming complete Ignatius Study Bible on his Facebook page. The image above shows both the hardcover (left) and leather (right) editions.
The next two images show the hardcover edition next to several other books that many Catholics are familiar with, including the paperback editions of Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI, the Great Adventure Bible, and a couple of volumes from the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture series.
The Ignatius Press website lists the thickness of the hardcover edition as 2.9 inches, and it definitely appears quite thick in these photos. It is notably thicker than the Catholic Bible Dictionary by Scott Hahn or A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament by John Bergsma and Brant Pitre.
I.. am really glad I cancelled my order.
That’s no Bible.
That’s a space station.
Dang. That was really funny.
It’s too big to be a space station.
How big do you expect a commentary on the entire Bible to be? It is approximately the same size as the New Jerome Bible, The New Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (1968), or the Oxford Bible Commentary, all of which are already in my library.
Precisely.
It’s not a Bible.
It’s a commentary. (And that’s precisely what you have to compare it to for scale.)
It dwarfs the Oxford Annotated Bible. Probably the Didache and Little Rock Study Bibles too.
And the cover lacks any attention to design principles. Compare the spine to the Great Adventure Bible in the background and you’ll see what I mean:
-All text equally weighted, no emphasis on what matters most
-Ignatius’ brand named three times (Top, title, and brandmark)
-Ridiculous use of “Old and New Testament” (well, duh! It’s a “Bible,” right?)
A carefully branded redesign might strip that spine down to:
Ignatius << at the top
Catholic Study Bible << Big, bold letters, centered in the upper register of the spine
RSV-2CE << At the bottom, to anchor the translation (consistent with the NCC's official abbreviation listed in the permissions)
Just a big, ugly mess, full of great content.
I absolutely love it. However, you would be absolutely insane to own that in Ignatius Press’s brand of faux leather or even in a floppy rebind. Hardcover or a rebind in hard leather (like the Haydock Bibles of the 1800s) are the only sane options for something that huge. That’s also definitely a reference volume, not a daily Bible.
Beautiful! I’m a bit biased though because I love massive books. One thing that gets overlooked when Dr. Hahn emphasizes that the page count is less than that of the ESV Study Bible, despite having the 7 deuterocanonical books, is that the ESV Study Bible is still a 6×9 book, whereas the Ignatius Study Bible is advertised as 7×10. So the Ignatius Study Bible is going to appear like the more imposing tome.
They should have just left the Old Testament in two volumes like they told me they were going to do years ago. You would have those two big volumes for the Old Testament and that one volume for the New. This is not now nor was it going to be back then a one volume Study Bible you can haul around like the Protestants.
That’s totally going to be a book that needs to be laid on its side. Stand it upright and it’ll probably only be a few months before the text block sags.
I was shocked at how big it is, thiugb j don’t know what I expected. I reached out to cancel my preorder.
Seeing the initial photos, I am thinking I will use the ICSB at home, unless I join a parish Bible study that uses it specifically.
I did pre-order the leather version. It will probably be bonded leather, but I’m thinking it will have better liners than the hardcover if they follow the precedent of the regular Bible. In any case, if cared for properly either edition should last a long time. In my experience, the extra large books do better sitting horizontally, even with a hardback. Most of my large books are standing upright on the book shelf, but a few cherished rare or premium Bibles are stacked flat to reduce stress on the spine.
Someone mentioned the size vs the ESV study Bible. I don’t have exact paper weight/font size specs for both, but my guess is the ISCB is larger due to the amount of notes and reference materials. It could be that the notes are bigger font than the ESV! This would be a blessing for the readers who might otherwise need a magnifier bookmark. As for the portability factor, I would rather have the larger Bible for home study than have a trimmed down portable. We already have the Didache RSV-2CE, which has an amazing set of notes and reference materials for small group sessions and Catechesis, in a portable size.
I must confess, I bought the ICSB NT and Genesis when they came out, then I stopped buying the ICSB booklets when I got the Didache in 2014. My parish Bible study did the entire ICSB NT and Genesis, then switched over to the Didache and has been doing Ascension Press – Great Adventure studies ever since. These studies have been rich in theology and historical insight, but I am really looking forward to seeing the completed ICSB as the majority of it will be brand new to me!
I pre-ordered the leather one. Sometime after, I read that it doesn’t have ribbon markers. I’m shocked. Why would such an expensive bible not have ribbon markers?
Makes sense to me that a truly comprehensive Study Bible would not be of the same size and portability as one that is easily carried to Bible Study, Adoration, etc. I will continue to use my New Catholic Bible or NLT Catholic Bible for those needs. I am totally fine with that. The ICSB will stay in my study as a ready and reliable reference for homilies, weekly commentary on readings, catechetical prep, etc.
Me, too.
That’s exactly how I’ll use it— catechetical prep, personal study, etc. I have my semi-compact zippered New Catholic Bible and others for Adoration, Mass, etc.
I never expected this to be a carry-around bible. It’s for deep study and will be laid on its side (as suggested above) near my Catholic Bible commentaries in my office.
Not to me.
I regularly used the New Oxford Annotated Bible in class, in church, during morning and evening prayer. Fit in my backpack. Rested easily in the hands as a reader.
I wouldn’t be able to use this that way. It’s like a library dictionary.
It looks fantastic. It’s not a wimpy volume, that’s for sure. It’ll be a treasure that will probably stay on my desk for study. I’ve already got a RSVCE2 Bible that is portable— for teaching, Bible studies, and the like.
I’m just thrilled it finally got completed in my lifetime. It was a big project!
No ribbon markers is insane. I still pre ordered the leather though
I agree with Chris, it’s quite a strangely big book. One would think it should be divided into multiple volumes.. Oh wait there are individual single book volumes, those seem much more “handleable”
From the standpoint of engaging with the sacred Text on a personal level I just can’t seem to foresee using such a big book for this purpose, for me I size up a Catholic Bible translation/edition more organically, almost like a romantic encounter, for example when I open up the Word On Fire Bible I feel deeply engaged and I can have personal and memorable experiences using those volumes, I can even find an intimate encounter with the holy Writings in a compact and elegant Bible like the Oxford RSV-CE editions. Aesthetic and feel are almost more important than commentary for me because the things that leave a mark are more or less subconscious and based on being romanced by the encounter
I’m waiting until I can buy the e-book version. Then, whenever a study note strikes me as particularly important, I’ll just copy it into my ESV-CE Bible 🙂
I have the Ignatius Study Bible New Testament on Verbum. I’ve linked that Study Bible to my ESV-CE edition so it auto scrolls in a different pane as I read the Bible. It was the best alternative since there is no ESV-CE study Bible. I also did the same with the Haydock Commentary paired with my Douay Rheims Bible.
I’m looking forward to this full edition being offered on Verbum so I can read this where ever I go. I’m definitely not going to cancel my pre-order. My 1966 Jerusalem Bible is pretty thick too and I just read it on the table. And having the full Ignatius Study Bible in Verbum will allow me to read and study from this when I’m not at my desk.
My same complaint about most Study Bibles: IT’S TOO BIG. I don’t be buying this.
I can’t wait for my copy to arrive and am very glad it is not multiple volumes. For my taste, multiple volumes makes the Bible much less “usable”, especially when looking up cross references of the text you are reading.
I wrote as soon as I saw these pics to Ignatius using their customer service email asking about a refund and nothing from them yet. Maybe they are swamped!
I don’t understand this at all, how big did you think a nearly verse-by-verse commentary on the entire Bible would be? 50 pages?
We are truly seeing the duality of man in these comments lol. This is either the greatest Bible they’ve ever seen or the worst.
So they released a single volume New Testament and separate volumes of all the books of the Old Testament and people are mad that the final complete version of the Old and the New is… big?
Exactly, for years, we heard the complaint, “They need to have one volume edition,” now that we have one, they are saying, “It should be split into multiple volumes.”
I don’t understand the big the “too big” complaints at all, just how big did they expect a verse by verse commentary on the entire Bible to be?
Nope. Not saying that.
Should be one volume. Just a manageable size to make it usable as a Bible, not as a museum piece.
Form factor of the New Oxford Annotated worked just fine for me for years. One volume, detailed notes and commentaries, printed at a reasonable size on reasonably thin paper.
When I joined the Catholic Church and wanted something comparable. Sadly, this isn’t it. The most comparable one-volume balance of size and Catholic content I can find is Oxford’s Catholic Study Bible. There, it’s the NABRE that’s the detractor for me.
Can Ignatius just not source Bible paper? Is that the problem? It’s like they printed this thing on card stock!
The Oxford Annotated Bible barely has any notes; and the notes it has don’t offer a lot of depth, just an explanatory gloss that easily fits on the bottom of the page.
This has extensive notes and several long articles, it’s commentary is often longer than the text it is commenting on, It is much more like the Jerome Bible than Oxford Annotated.
If this edition is bound similar to the hardback (big) blue Ignatius Bible then this may be printed in India. The large blue hardback is printed in India. Much better than China since they are an atheist police state. Usability and practicality trumps weight and volume, those who think it must be some giant book should check out the other series where it’s multi-volume and you get a lot more variety that way such as the WoF or Navarre. Perhaps Ignatius wants to create something to rival the great ‘Geneva Bible’ … Perhaps the boom is not printed in India who knows. The individual Ignatius Study Volumes do appeal a lot more to people who value holding the book in their hands for long stretches otherwise holding such a big book would breed contempt for the reading of it, but I hope Mr. Hahn and team made a good boon here. I’m not ordering it based on the sheer size, no no. A separate book about a given section of the Bible will do, study Bible’s are already mastered by those who are in the midst of created multi-volume series—such as the Word On Fire Bible Project—I’m putting my stock in those ones
I’m going to be honest, I’ve never once heard someone complain that the ESV Study Bible should’ve been released in two volumes. And yet it’s the best-selling study Bible, so clearly the public doesn’t mind its size. Aside from an extra inch of height and width, the given measurements seem to show that the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible will be roughly the same thickness as the ESV one, a little under 2.5 inches. In fact, they suggest that the Ignatius will be slightly thinner. For years we’ve talked about how this would be the Catholic answer to the ESV Study Bible, and now that we have it, the complaints are that it’s as big as the ESV Study Bible, the very thing it has been compared to since the latter came out.
I was walking by the gift shop this morning at my local parish and I saw it through the window… one copy of the new study Bible!!! I stood in surprise and disbelief as I picked it up… and realized it was just a large print edition Ignatius Bible! Comparing the specs for each I found that the study Bible will be slightly smaller and less than 1/2” thicker. Having the large print in hand today I can tell you that I will most definitely be bringing the new Study Bible to the parish Bible study. I actually brought both the Didache and the ICSB NT to our parish study of the book of Revelation last night. Both sets of notes are similar, being based largely on Church Tradition and Magisterium, but the ICSB goes deeper into the exegetical detail, with more exposition on the historical and Old Testament connections (particularly with the Septuagint.) I think the Didache will end up being the casual reader… I’ve seen some great rebinds of these, but I don’t care as much about that. It’s what’s inside that counts!
Amen, Jonny.
When I was coming into the Church as a young man, going through the R.C.I.A., a woman came to speak to us about prayer. She brought with her a wonderfully HUGE and well-worn hardcover Jerusalem Bible (the reddish one with the case from way back in the late sixties), and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. “Now that’s a study bible!” was my reaction. I ended up finding one in a used bookstore, and it’s a treasure.
I would be disappointed if the ICSB was anything less than thick and meaty. I want a lot of solid material in that bible. Given the team that put it together, the more the better, in fact.
For those who have a hangup about such a large bible, thank goodness there are the individual volumes and the New Testament edition to serve their particular taste. To each his own. But I, for one, am looking forward to having it all in one volume, for the reasons Jonny stated above. And I, too, may take it with me. That’s what my backpack is for. But even if it’s too big for that, it’ll be a great resource on my desk, where I do most of my bible study anyway. I have plenty of smaller bibles for other purposes.
This is going to be fantastic!
Leighton,
The successor to the great JB Study Bible you mention would be the Revised New Jerusalem Bible: Study Edition… The cover is great and the text has just the right amount of annotations, more importantly the translation is superb and is several decades ahead of the RSV-based Ignatius and even the NRSVCE, I’m not disparaging ICSB though.
The Catholic study of the Bible is not reduced to a religion of the book mentality such as that of the Protestant ethos and in their use of the ESV. Therefore we shouldn’t attempt to mirror our approach to the Bible with the Protestants; the Bible for Catholics is much more than simply slamming all study into one big book, a ‘Cathedral in Print’ is much more akin to the Catholic approach.
I mean, the first English Catholic Bible, the original Douay-Rheims, was basically a Catholic version of the Geneva Bible, cramming everything from patristic-based explanatory commentary to Catholic apologetics and anti-Protestant polemics to a dash of early textual criticism, going as far as labeling every passage used in the liturgical cycle so that underground Catholics unable to attend Mass in Protestant England could still do the readings for the whole year, using their contraband printed Bible. In short, it was quite literally designed to “slam all study into one big book”… only they needed three physical big books to hold it all due to printing of the time. So while the Word on Fire Bible is designed more “Catholic” today, the Ignatius Study Bible certainly exists in the tradition of big, all-in-one Catholic Bibles. The Haydock Bible is another obvious parallel; compared to some of the Haydock Family Bibles printed two centuries ago, this Study Bible from Ignatius might as well be considered a modest novel in size.
And while we’re at it, I’m wondering if anybody here owns the original hardback Jerusalem Bible, which was only half an inch smaller in height and width than the Ignatius Study Bible, but was 3 inches thick. “Big Catholic Bibles” are more the norm than anything.
Leighton,
A great single-volume study Bible that ‘succeeds’ the great Jerusalem Bible (Study Edition) would be the Revised New Jerusalem Bible: Study Edition — it’s a hardback, has just the right amount of study notes, and most importantly the translation itself is superb and masterfully builds on it’s legacy of the Tolkien-influenced Jerusalem Bible tradition. Textually it is several decades ahead of both the RSV-based translations and NRSVCE. Coupled with the WOF Bible it is second to none.
I’ve been enjoying the back and forth here over the past week or so. Having regularly blogged about the ICSB back when I had my own blog, I am excited to finally be able to have this edition in one volume. Last thing I want is two volumes for this thing. So often one needs to wait to actually have the Bible in hand before making any judgements on it being too bulky or big. But I will say that there are options here. You can get the hardcover or bonded leather. You can get an e-book if you want. The individual volumes (or at least many of them) will still be available. But for those of us who have been literally waiting for twenty + years for this thing, it really is a time to be joyful. There are so many beautiful bibles out there to choose from, that may answer a person’s particular need. If you want something that is beautiful, like a Cathedral as someone earlier put it, the Word on Fire Bible is there for you. There are plenty of beginner study bibles out there, including the Great Adventure, Little Rock, and the Oxford Personal Study NABRE. There’s an entire Bible dedicated to the liturgical life of the Church from LitPress. And of course there are the ones keyed to the CCC, like the Didache. But for those of us who have wanted a legit study Bible akin to the ESV SB, the publication of the complete ICSB is a beautiful thing and something to be joyful about. One of the best things about being Catholic is that we are often a both/and faith. Why not embrace that when looking at this becoming available. With all these options, it is great time to be a Catholic who loves the Bible.
The LitPress Liturgy and Life Study Bible is such a great idea, I just wish they were allowed to omit the NABRE notes; not just because of the usual criticisms directly at those notes, but because you end up with two layers of footnotes and it just becomes obscenely crowded.
The utter hugeness actually doesn’t dissuade me from purchasing it. I do still wish that they offered the Old Testament as a standalone volume, but that’s a separate issue. I already have Ignatius’ basic RSV-2CE Bible, and that’s portable enough for me.
On second thought, I’m starting to think that the giant size of this volume is a detriment. Maybe not a deal-breaker, but still…at church this morning, I flipped through a copy of the Orthodox Study Bible. This Bible also has commentary on each page (at least the pages that I saw), book introductions, and topical essays. The whole Bible is quite portable, not tiny, but it could easily be carried around. Yes, it has thin Bible paper and some ghosting, but it’s easy to read. It’s much smaller than the Ignatius Study Bible, even though the Orthodox Church has a few more books than we do.
Looking at the ESV Study Bible’s website, that one also looks much smaller than the Ignatius Study Bible. Again, there is a lot of commentary, maps, etc. Again, the pages are thin and there’s some ghosting. But, again, it’s a book that you can comfortably hold and use. The site has videos and pictures of people doing just that. I would have a hard time imagining people sitting in a chair and reading the Ignatius Study Bible in that manner.
So, I think that Ignatius could have done a better job of designing this Bible. I may still get it, especially since the content is likely top-notch. However, similar Bibles from across the denominational divides show that this kind of study Bible can be done in a much more practical package. Maybe I’ll hold out for another Catholic Study Bible that is more along those lines.
The RSV base for the RSV2CE is from the 40s and 50s, if you ask me that seems quite an elder time to have a 21st century translation to be based on. Why can’t Ignatius just use the NRSVCE and in the notes adjudicate their ideological differences with particular words conservatives tend to knock down?
Do we know if the NT notes are in any way expanded, if there’s fixed errata or anything? Or is it completely identical to the existing NT study notes?