[1]NASHVILLE (BP)–You can’t hold the complete Holman Christian Standard Bible translation in your hands until spring 2004, but you can scroll through it online with your mouse.
LifeWay.com has added a “pre-release, preview edition” version of the Holman CSB Old Testament to the Holman CSB New Testament already available through the website’s online Bible reference library. The addition comes in conjunction with the release of the Holman CSB translation this fall in LifeWay Christian Resources’ Sunday School curriculum.
“The online version allows pastors, Sunday School teachers and daily Bible readers to use the complete translation now,” said Craig Kendall, e-ventures manager in LifeWay’s e-business department. “It’s highly unusual to have an online version of a Bible translation out before a print version, but we really wanted to serve the churches who are using our Sunday School curriculum.”
The Holman CSB is being premiered in LifeWay’s Family Bible Study Series (which also offers a KJV line) and in the Explore the Bible Series, where it appears alongside the KJV for comparison. The new adult Sunday School resource, MasterWork, includes various Bible translations used by the authors of the study materials (e.g., Billy Graham, Charles Swindoll). An additional small-group Sunday School resource, Life Connections, uses the NIV.
Part of a seven-year, $10 million project, the entire Holman CSB translation (Old and New Testament) will be released April 15, David Shepherd, senior vice president and publisher for Broadman & Holman Publishers, said.
“This is a fresh, modern English translation,” he said. “Accuracy with readability is what sets it apart as a great translation for Bible study.”
[2]Portions of the new translation were first released through such books as “The Christ We Knew,” with commentary by Calvin Miller and “Experiencing the Word through the Gospels,” featuring devotional notes by Henry Blackaby. Other Holman CSB resources include a new “Here’s Hope” New Testament edition, a low-priced paperback designed for evangelistic outreach, and an Ultra-Trim New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs that can be slipped into a pocket or purse.
By April 2004, B&H expects to have released five new Holman CSB products, including a gift and award Bible, a reader’s text edition with words of Christ in red, a pew Bible, a drill Bible and a software product, “Bible Navigator.” The software, offering the complete Holman CSB on CD-ROM, comes out in November of this year.
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LifeWay’s online Bible reference library is at http://bible.lifeway.com. For more information about the Holman CSB and a list of frequently asked questions, visit www.lifeway.com/hcsb. (BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: HCSB ONLINE.