Standing for Truth and Defending Your Freedom
Standing for Truth and Defending Your Freedom

A New Study Bible for All Generations

by Karen Gushta, Ph.D.

Recently, a friend of mine mentioned that when he uses his smartphone Bible app in Sunday School, he wonders if some are thinking he’s reading emails or even posting on Facebook during the class. This gentleman is a media-savvy septuagenarian.

We tend to associate the use of new media with the younger generations, most especially Baby Busters (those born between 1965 and 1983) and Millennials (those born between 1984 and 2002). However, the older generations are embracing it, too. They are texting, and using Skype and Face Time to keep in touch with children and grandchildren who may be living across the country or serving overseas in the armed forces.

Some question whether books in hard copy will endure. Will they be replaced by digital formats? Will people opt instead for e-readers like Kindle, which allow them to download digital books at cheaper rates than their paper counterparts? Likewise, when it comes to reading the Bible, are more people now choosing to read their favorite translation on a digital device?

In 2014, some significant research on this point was conducted by the Barna Group in partnership with the American Bible Society and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. A Barna poll of Millennials, which included 1,000 online surveys conducted among a representative sample of young adults, ages 18 through 30, showed some significant and perhaps even surprising findings.

The Barna poll reveals some encouraging information about the upcoming generation of Millennials. First, it disclosed that practicing young Christian adults still maintain a traditional, high view of Scripture. Second, it showed that print remains their favored format for Bible reading. Both of these facts bode well for the distribution and use of the new D. James Kennedy Topical Study Bible among the upcoming generations.

The Barna Group reported that among young self-identified Christians (those who say they attend church at least once a month and who believe that their religious faith is very important in their life today), 96 percent believe “the Bible contains everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life.” In addition, the same percentage claims, “the Bible is the actual or inspired word of God.”

When it comes to the importance of the Bible to younger age Christians, another significant piece of information came out of this research. Practicing Christian Millennials point to the Bible as the main source from which they have learned absolute moral truths and standards (39 percent), outpacing the church (16 percent), and even parents (14 percent). (The report did not state where the remaining 31 percent derived their standards for moral truth.)

Furthermore, this cohort of younger Christians ranks Bible reading as more important than the other Christian disciplines. The Barna survey summarized, “Among practicing Christian Millennials, the Bible still holds a high—if not the highest—priority in their faith life.”

In addition, although Millennials—more so than older generations—have incorporated other mediums for engaging with the Bible, according to the Barna study, “none of these trump reading a print version of the Bible (81 percent), or even hearing it read aloud at church (78 percent).” Two-thirds do say they use the internet on a computer to read Bible content, and a little more than half read the Bible on an e-reader, but their preferred format is print.

Therefore, as we launch the new D. James Kennedy Topical Study Bible (which is not yet available in digital format), we can find it encouraging to know that this Bible has the potential for reaching every generation of Christians.