Mark Brumley, President of Ignatius Press, has posted a short video on Facebook showing the soon-to-be-published leather Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. The sewn binding is evident in the video. I’m also happy to see that the ghosting of text from subsequent pages looks much better than the photos that Brumley recently posted. Thanks to a reader for alerting me to this new video.
Now I’m happy I ordered the leather over the hardback . It actually looks smaller than other study Bibles I own. I still wish it had a ribbon or 2 but besides that it looks great
I checked the Ignatius site and the hardback is only .1 inches less in thickness. It may just be the camera angle or the measurements aren’t correct on their site:
10 x 7 x 2.9 (Hardback)
10 x 7 x 2.8 (Leather)
https://ignatius.com/ignatius-catholic-study-bible-2h/
Could you please elaborate why the leather option is preferable over hardcover in this case (and whether size is a variable here)? I ordinarily would prefer a hardcover option but am thinking that how big this study bible is might change things…
Weird, maybe it’s the angle but it looks significantly smaller than the behemoth hardback from a couple of posts ago.
It never really looked all that big, no bigger than the ESV Study Bible, The Oxford Bible Commentary or any of the Jerome Bible Commentaries (of which there are now 3), it seems to be the appropriate size for a Study Bible, how big did you expect it to be?
Please, enough with the belittling “How big did you expect it to be?” trope.
No one who finds this disappointing is being unreasonable – or ignorant – in saying so.
What did I expect?
Catholic Study Bible-sized.
New Oxford Annotated-sized.
Not (practically) pulpit-lectionary sized.
Okay, so what would you do differently? Would you decrease the font size, cut stuff out, make it multi-volume?
It would help if you stopped with the trope of constant nitpicking of every little insignificant detail about a product about which you frankly know virtually nothing. So you’ve seen a picture, so what? Until you hold it in your hands and look through it with your fingers and eyes, you frankly know nothing, yet I’ve seen you nitpick everything from the thickness of the paper (how do you know how thick the paper is?) to the design on the cover, I’ve seen you nitpick everything except the color, although maybe that is next.
And yet the only thing that matters is the content, the one thing you haven’t talked about.
After years of complaining that they haven’t published it yet, you’ve abruptly decided, based on virtually no information, that it is just the worst thing ever. Is this reasonable to you? It doesn’t to me.
You are starting to sound like a Star Wars fan “The newest Star Wars content is guaranteed to be absolute garbage, i won’t watch the ads, I won’t watch the show, but I complain endlessly online about how terrible it is.”
Yup. Doesn’t look all that huge to me. Looking forward to receiving the hardcover edition.
There is now a video of Scott Hahn unboxing the full ICSB: https://youtu.be/tPZmLRO0DXA
Yeah, it was definitely a trick of the light. That sucker is still enormous.
Thomas,
Thank you for posting this link. Scott mentioned he received his box of bibles from India, which I’m taking as an indication of where they are printed.
Likely. I personally don’t mind India or Korea as printing countries, compared to the PRC.
Evan,
Same with me. I’ve liked the bibles I have that were printed in S Korea. The one or two I have from India are a step down in quality but still acceptable. I have an aversion to all things made in the PRC for a whole list of reasons. The one bible I had that was printed there I gave away. The New Catholic Bible by Catholic Book Publishing is printed in the PRC which has kept me from getting a copy.
On one hand, I understand a publishers desire to offer inexpensive bibles so that young people and those with lower/fixed incomes can easily afford them. On the other hand, feeding the giant anti-Christian monster is analogous to giving money to Lucifer.
I noticed yesterday that my copy of the text-only RSV-2CE Bible (the one with the red Four Evangelists cover) was printed in the USA. I guess Ignatius must’ve outsourced production at some point in the last 13 years (not complaining, just interesting).
Are there any plans to release the remaining Old Testament books in booklet form? I plan on getting the full size copy, but the booklets have just been so handy to carry around when studying a particular book.
And they also have study questions, which were uploaded on the website but will be absent from the complete Bible. I hope they will finish those.
They’re so close! I hope to have the complete set at some point
Here’s from Ignatius Press, when asked whether a standalone OT edition would be published:
“Thank you for your feedback. The most demand was for a COMPLETE study Bible in one volume. It is a very expensive endeavor, so this is what we decided to provide at this time. In the future, we will be finishing the rest of the Old Testament in the paperback single volumes and releasing those.”
Great! Thank you for looking into this James.
Does anyone know if an ebook version will be released?
I’ve got the Ignatius Study Bible NT on Verbum and their individual books of the OT are also available. I assume they’l have the whole Ignatius OT and NT Study Bible available at some point.
Hey folks,
I wanted to provide an update regarding previous comments both others and myself made re: the NT revision project.
The schedule and agenda for the USCCB’s Fall 2024 Plenary has been released. You can view it yourself over at this hyperlink: https://www.usccb.org/news/2024/us-bishops-meet-nov-11-14-baltimore-assembly-be-live-streamed
As you can see from the agenda, the NT revision (really a whole new translation) for the upcoming definitive Liturgical Bible is not on the agenda. Confirming what I’ve stated previously, this new Bible is absolutely not going to be published in 2025. I can tell you without a doubt, the earliest we will have this Bible in our hands would be sometime in 2026.
At the very end of the agenda, they mention that votes will be held for “three action items pertaining to liturgical texts from the divine worship committee.”
The good news is, this very likely will include a vote on those portions of the NT revision/new translation that will be used in the LOTH 2nd Edition and upcoming breviary (scheduled for publication in 2026).
So, definitive Liturgical Bible (won’t be called NABRE or any variation thereof) and the new breviary should be released in 2026. Pending further delays.
Apologies for going off topic but I just ordered the NRSV-UE Catholic Edition from the Bible Society in the UK. I can’t believe it’s received an imprimatur or nihil obstat.
https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/products/9780564037216/
I have yet to actually see proof that it has received them. The UBS has published in the past supposed “Catholic editions” that were nothing more than a standard “with Apocrypha” Bible.
I’m sorry, maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see any evidence from this link that the Imprimatur was granted. It doesn’t seem to state that anywhere in the description, and the “look inside” link to a preview of the text doesn’t seem to show a page with an imprimatur. Was there some kind of separate announcement that the NRSV:UE that was getting an imprimatur and this link is just evidence that those previous statements have come to fruition in the form of this specific edition?
Sorry, but when I said I can’t believe it, I meant it. No irony intended. I don’t believe any approval has been given. I’ve emailed the Bible Society for the background to this publication.
As far as I know, an imprimatur has not been granted to the NRSVue yet. The latest I heard (in July) was that the review process is still ongoing as reported here:
https://catholicbibletalk.com/2024/07/ncc-has-applied-for-imprimatur-on-nrsvue/
If memory serves, there was some initial buzz on social media that the edition from the UK Bible Society would feature an imprimatur. The UK Bible Society later confirmed by email to a blog reader (shared with me) that this edition does not have an imprimatur.
If it has no imprimatur, then it shouldn’t advertise itself as a “Catholic edition.”
I agree but that’s what the Bible Society has done and it appears, from their website, that they no longer publish the approved NRSV-CE or even the 1989 NRSV with the Protestant canon. They have included prayers and devotions but these haven’t been updated to reflect new translations, e.g. Apostles Creed, although some are modernised in a clunky fashion (can anyone really address St Michael the Archangel as “you” – as opposed to “thou” – and keep a straight face?!).
I guess, in time, that the New Oxford Annotated Bible will be rereleased in the NRSV-UE. Over time the 1989 edition will probably go out of print, other than in the NRSV-CE.
Just got the shipping notification from Ignatius Press. The light at the end of the tunnel is finally visible. It’s all in the USPS’s hands now!
My copy has arrived! A few pages of Leviticus are creased, but otherwise appears good. I purchased the leather edition and it is very well bound – lies open at Genesis if that tells you anything!