Four Surprises in Publishing
Trevin Wax was recently appointed Bible and Reference Publisher for Broadman and Holman, the publisher of the new translation Christian Standard Bible.
For seven months now, I’ve been serving as the Bible and Reference Publisher for Broadman and Holman and overseeing the launch of the Christian Standard Bible.
The challenge of this new role has been the need to learn multiple disciplines at once, while also receiving a crash course in the basics of publishing God’s Word. From the logistical and mechanical side of Bible production, to the theological implications of translation choices, to the marketing of a translation—these have been at the forefront of my mind during these months of learning how to manage this business and ministry.
Recently, someone asked me about the biggest surprises I’ve encountered in this role.
Four surprises came to mind at once:
1. The existence of the Bible as a single book is in itself an amazing feat
Until now, I never gave much thought to why Bibles come in the forms they do.
• Why do Bibles use such thin paper?
• Why are Bibles bound in a certain way?
• Why do most Bibles have two columns on a page?
• Why are “large print” Bible fonts only 11 point?
Now that I am in Bible publishing, I recognize why Bibles tend to follow these common features. The truth is, the Bible is a library, not just one book. As a library of 66 books, the Bible includes more than 700,000 words and millions of individual characters.
There are physical challenges to fitting so much text into one book. When I was reviewing the Christian Standard Bible before taking on this new role, I carried around a huge binder with more than 1000 8.5x11 two-sided pages (weighing more than two reams of paper). I had to carry around this heavy “book” under my arm.
But once we put that text onto thinner paper, at a smaller size, with smaller margins, we had an Ultrathin Bible with a beautiful goatskin cover—the Bible that now I preach from every week. Until I became a Bible publisher, I had no idea that the reason why so many Bibles are on thin paper, with more than one column, with little margin, with small typeset and special fonts is because of the sheer physics of Bible production: this is what it takes to fit all of the Bible’s library into a single book.
Now, you can count me among the fans of Bibliotheca’s “library” approach of putting the Bible into multiple volumes in order to have nicer paper and a larger and more spacious font. But I won’t be carrying Bibliotheca to church anytime soon. It is a beautiful way of reading the Bible, but not practical if you need to take the whole Bible with you somewhere.
That’s why I am grateful for the centuries of Bible production that have led us to a point where we can have the full Bible available to us in one book, as one resource.
2. The process for typesetting and proofing a Bible is a massive endeavor
I am in awe at the sheer effort required for proofing and typesetting a Bible. With so many characters, spaces, punctuation marks, indentations, word choices, and spelling possibilities, it is surprising that so many Bibles get published with so few typos.
Bible publishers joke about (and shudder a little) at the so-called “Wicked Bible” – an early copy of the King James Version that had a missing word in the Ten Commandments. Readers were commanded: “Thou shalt commit adultery.” Trust me, the possibility of this kind of re-callable error slipping past a proofreader’s eye will keep a Bible publisher up at night!
Standard proofing is important for any book, dictionary, or manual. But when you are proofing a Bible, you are reading over the very words of God. As Christians who believe the Bible is inspired, inerrant, and authoritative, we go to extraordinary lengths of proofing because we want to get it right. The surprising amount of time and attention given to proofing the Bible (from internal and outside teams) makes me grateful for the Bible I hold in my hands.
The Christian Standard Bible (CSB) is a modern English Bible translation published in 2017 by Broadman & Holman Publishing Group.
The CSB was translated using a methodology called Optimal Equivalence, which balances contemporary English readability with linguistic precision to the original languages. In the many places throughout Scripture where a word-for-word rendering is clearly understandable, a literal translation is used. When a word-for-word rendering might obscure the meaning for a modern audience, a more dynamic translation is used.
More than 25 different CSB editions will be published by Broadman & Holman in 2017 – most of which has been designed and typeset by 2K/DENMARK.
3. When you are involved in publishing and promoting God’s Word, you can expect to experience spiritual battle
The New Testament authors portray the Christian life as a battle against powers and principalities. We are on a battlefield between good and evil, as we follow a Savior who is victorious over sin and death and hell.
At times in my life, I’ve experienced a heightened sense of this spiritual battle in my own walk with God. As I’ve talked with other writers and editors, I’ve found that I’m not alone. When you are working on projects that promote and distribute God’s Word, you can expect spiritual resistance. The evil one does not want people to know God through His Word.
Alongside this element of spiritual battle, I have also been surprised at the ease in which we can grow accustomed to dealing with the precious words of God. It is easy to know God’s Word and not apply it, to promote God’s Word and not practice it, or to publish God’s Word and not read it.
In my preparation of The Spurgeon Study Bible, I came across a quote from Charles Spurgeon who commented on Bible printers who send out thousands of copies of God’s Word. He then asked the question: what if our Bibles were to rise up against in judgment against us? More than 150 years later, we have more biblical resources on our shelves and on our phones than Spurgeon could have dreamed of. Are we more faithful? Are we more obedient?
Could it be that our easy access to the Bible may lead us to become over-familiar with the biblical text? Do we find it difficult to be “in awe” of Scripture, to hear the voice of God break through in a fresh way that arrests our hearts?
We should not expect a flash of insight every time we open God’s Word. Sometimes, it is the simple routine of reading and rereading Scripture that forms us, whether or not we have some sort of epiphany. Still, if we are never gripped by God’s Word, or if we begin to treat the Bible flippantly or carelessly, we should wonder if we have grown cold to God. This Word is life to us—our daily bread, not leftovers.
4. Translating the Bible is weighty and rewarding work
The more I work alongside the translation committee of the Christian Standard Bible, the more I grow in gratitude for translations that have served me well through the years. It has surprised me just how heavy the burden of translating the Bible is. When you work with men and women who love God and cherish His Word, you feel the weightiness of seeking to be faithful to Jesus in how we make His Word available in English.
Michael Card, the singer-songwriter who served as the stylist for the csb recalls a translation committee meeting in which some of the team members wept openly about the honor of stewarding a translation of God’s Word. Translating the Bible is an audacious and humble task. One must have the strong desire to be faithful, to listen to brothers and sisters from different continents and from different denominational backgrounds, as the work of rendering the text takes place.
The best surprise of all is the great reward that comes from this work. It is one thing to say that the Word of God is living and active and sharper than a double-edged sword. It is another thing to feel the weight of that truth, to sense deep in your heart that the Word will not fade but endure forever. To trust that the Word will not return empty but will accomplish God’s purpose. To see how the Word that points to Jesus, and how Jesus points back to God’s Word, so that neither an iota nor dot will pass away until all is fulfilled.
I’m thankful to be a Bible publisher. But more than that, I’m thankful God gave us a Bible to publish.
Trevin Wax is Bible and Reference Publisher for LifeWay Christian Resources and has served as managing editor of The Gospel Project, a gospel-centered small group curriculum for all ages. He is the teaching pastor at Third Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, TN and is a contributor to numerous publications including The Washington Post, Religion News Service, Christianity Today, and World. Trevin’s blog, Kingdom People, is hosted by The Gospel Coalition.
A former missionary to Romania, Trevin was recently named by Christianity Today as one of 33 millennials leading the next generation of evangelicalism. He is the co-host of the Word Matters podcast that explores difficult and contested passages of Scripture. He earned his Ph.D in Theology at Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, NC, and his Masters of Divinity at Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY. He lives in middle Tennessee with his wife, Corina, and their three children.
