Ascension Press issued a press release earlier this week announcing an upcoming second edition of the Great Adventure Bible. The translation will remain unchanged (RSV-2CE), but there will be a few updates to the other materials included within its pages:
- New Bible in a Year reading plan which coincides with the Bible in a Year podcast.
- Color-coded references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church
- 32 new footnotes
- Redesigned full-color maps
In addition, the second edition will also be printed in a wider variety of bindings, font sizes, layouts, including a new premium option with a brown goatskin leather cover:
- Paperback
- Alpha Cowhide (imitation leather)
- Large Print Alpha Cowhide
- Notetaking Alpha Cowhide
- Premium Goatskin
Both Tim Wildsmith and A Nickels Worth Bible Reviews have received advance copies of the premium goatskin edition and published video reviews on YouTube. Tim Wildsmith commented that the overall construction of the premium edition reminded him of the Zondervan Premier Collection Bibles, and I had the same reaction when I saw what it looked like. I purchased the Zondervan Premier NRSVue with Apocrypha a couple of years ago, and the construction of the new premium Great Adventure Bible looks similar. I haven’t written a full review of the Premier NRSVue yet, but it is one of the nicer bibles I own. In my opinion, the quality is quite comparable to Schuyler at a much lower price.
Ascension will begin taking preorders on November 29th (Black Friday) for all binding options. The preorder page is here. Currently, orders are expected to ship in mid-January.
I’ll try not to dwell on where it’s printed (you all know the answer) and instead be positive that the RSV-2CE, this time in the form of the GAB, continues to expand its options in the market. I remember Jeff Cavins going on Pints with Aquinas and lamenting the state of Catholic Bible physical quality, wanting something akin to Schuyler Bibles for the GAB one day, and saying he planned to keep lobbying for it on the inside. Well, it looks like his wish was granted. I don’t have the GAB myself because I didn’t like the red letters on the paperback copy I briefly had, so I don’t know which Luke 1:34 reading it has; if it has the old one (“How can this be, since I have no husband?”) then I’m curious if this updated GAB will also update the text to “How will this be, since I do not know man?” like in the complete ICSB.
My son has the Great Adventure CB and I’ve thought about getting one ….until I saw where it is printed. Hope they move the printing to a Christian friendly country:
Wow! The Second Coming must be happening soon. I can’t believe we have the complete Ignatius Study Bible and a premium Goatskin edition of a Catholic Bible both available at the same time.
The premium editions are VERY welcome. What a miracle: an actually premium Catholic Bible.
I’m very disappointed that they’re adding so little content, however. The first Great Adventure Bible had less commentary than the existing Cavins & Morrow book “Walking with God: A Journey Through the Bible,” which you can buy for like $12, and it sounds like this new edition doesn’t add much. I mean, seriously? “32 new footnotes”? Imagine Zondervan or Crossway writing that with a straight face. They’d be laughed out of the room.
The Great Adventure Bible does a great job of introducing the “main storyline” of the Bible, but it leaves the reader pretty much naked on the other ~60 books of the Bible. I’ve always thought it desperately needed book introductions, so that the reader actually has some information on how Ezekiel or Obadiah or Sirach relates to the core narrative of salvation history. Now, if they’d integrated all the info in their new book “A Catholic Guide to the Old Testament” directly into the Great Adventure Bible, then we’d be cooking.
The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible has raised the bar. This “100 pages or so of commentary, some anemic sidebars, now with 32 new footnotes” approach doesn’t cut it anymore.
Personally, I wouldn’t want a premium goatskin edition of a do-it-all study bible. To my mind, it would be a waste. I’m not going to be holding a huge bible like the ICSB in my hands for an extended period. I’m going to end up laying it on a desk or setting it up on a bookstand. If I’m not going to be holding it, I think a premium leather cover is unnecessary. Plus, for a huge study bible, a floppy leather cover is just annoying from my perspective. It doesn’t hold its shape, and it feels more fragile than a sturdy hardcover.
From that perspective, I think the Great Adventure Bible is a much better candidate for a high quality goatskin cover than the ICSB. It can function reasonably well as a reader’s bible. It has some extra materials, a few footnotes here and there, etc, but the extra material doesn’t make it a huge tome. Plus, I’ve always felt that the paper and print quality in the GAB is among the best of ANY Catholic Bible on the market. This was true even at the very beginning when their first print run was glued instead of sewn. The paper and printing were still excellent even then. So, with a goatskin cover it will be an excellent bible inside and out.
I agree. When I see big Bibles like the ESVSB and the ICSB, classy hardcover binding is the way to go. Floppy goatskin covers are for thin- and medium-size Bibles. If your Bible is big enough to fail an edge-line test (where you hold the front or back cover and let the Bible hang in the air for a few seconds to test the strength of the edge-line tab) because the book block is big enough to rip the cover clean off the block, it probably doesn’t need a floppy cover.
I have barely scratched the surface of the first edition! I can’t see myself getting the second edition. Maybe if they do a third edition in a few years I might upgrade.
This has been maybe the best couple months in recent memory for Catholic Bible fanatics: ICSB published, nice thinline editions of the RSV-2ce released, NAB revision approved, and 2nd ed. Great Adventure Bible available in both a journaling edition AND premium. With Advent beginning, the only logical conclusion is that we’re on the edge of the Eschaton.
I was one of the privileged buyers to get an early-release of the goatskin GACB when I pre-ordered (should arrive in Dec 3), and I’d be happy to review it, if you’d like.
That’d be great, Fr. JT! I’d be happy to host your review.
The mixture of the classy goatskin and the overly juvenile compass logo is…interesting.
Tim Nickels just put out another video today where he compared this Bible to its “premium” counterparts from Thomas Nelson, Crossway, Humble Lamb, Holman, and Schuyler, and concluded that it’s “on par” with all of the major “heavyweights” from the Protestant premium Bible world. He even suggested that, for the $125 price, he considers it a better deal than Crossway’s “ESV Heirloom Bible: Heritage Edition,” which is about $100-200 more. Considering the number of Bibles that Nickels has seen, I think Ascension can be proud of this Bible to get such high praise and positive comparisons.
I really wish they would have done away with the compass for the premium edition
Yes, I don’t know why someone didn’t say “let’s get rid of the compass” for the premium edition. Looks juvenile.
Leaving the compass on the cover of the premium edition is baffling indeed.
Sorry but I hate the colour of the cover. As for the words of Christ in red…. I might buy the faux leather version so to have the second edition.