Why the Bible Is the Most Sold Book in the World
Introduction
The Bible is the highest-selling book in the world, every year. This essay will look at the sacred status of the Bible in the Christian faith, which is the most practiced faith in the world with 2.382 billion adherents – one-third of the world’s population. The active engagement of publishing houses to market the Bible in different ways to make it desirable to a large, heterogeneous audience also make it the top selling book. The Bible’s success is due, foremost, to the fact that is not only a book, but a library of versions and interpretations of Christianity.
The divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit
For Christians, the text of the Bible is sacred because it was written under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Those who wrote the words are not the creative or intellectual force behind them, but messengers or conduits of God’s pure word. The New Testament claims “all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (KJV Bible, 2 Tim. 3.16-17). The Bible is the backbone of the Christian faith because most denominations use it as a basis for their doctrine and hold the view that the Bible is both inspired and inerrant. The object as much as the text is God-breathed. David Morgan shows how since the colonial era in America, the Bible was deemed as a ‘power object […] not only read and heard but visually contemplated and represented as an image’, for instance, used as a protective shield against evil influences (Morgan 96), but also to construct an identity of a morally righteous person out of bible ownership.
Different narrative content
However, the Bible is not only one book but many. Subtle or drastic differences between the belief systems of the Christian denominations mean that the narrative content is not the same for all bibles.
There is a Protestant, Catholic, Anglican, Greek Orthodox Bible, and the Torah. There are translation variants such as the standard King James and the New Revised Standard Version. Christian movements advocate for the authority of one edition over others. Hence, publishing houses have tapped into a group that even when they already own a bible, could potentially buy another one, if it means to be closer to a fresher version of the text, closer to God’s message. They dress up bibles with supplementary material such as study questions, notes about translation or tips on how to apply the Bible teachings to attract a specific demographic group, such as the Tyndale NLT Teen Life Application Study Bible (2012), aimed at an age group that may not be inclined to read a 1,000 plus page ancient text filled with allusions.
Conclusion
The Bible is the highest-selling book in the world because of its central, sacred place within the most followed religion in the world. Its contents are deemed as being inerrant, meaning without error, and inspired, as coming straight from the mouth of God. And the material of the book itself is also thought of as sacred. But the main cause for this staggering achievement is rooted in the fact that the Bible is a network of books, a library of Christianity, resulting from the interpretations of the Christian faith by its many denominations, as well as the continuous refurbishing of the book by publishing companies to meet the changing societal views about religion and its role in society, and thus ensuring continued influence and sales of the Bible.
- Works Cited
Morgan, David. “The Image of the Protestant Bible in America.” The Bible in the Public Square: Its Enduring Influence in American Life, edited by Mark A. Chancey et al., Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta, 2014, pp. 93–119.
King James Version, University of Michigan. Accessed 08 Nov 2021
Structure of a Bible Essay Sample
Typically, an essay includes such structural elements as:
- Introduction
- Theses
- Arguments
- Findings and conclusions.
The introduction to an academic essay should be interesting and catchy; monotonous and redundant statements are not suitable. The thesis must reflect the author’s assumptions and be in an affirmative form. Arguments should relate to the thesis itself, and not to the entire topic. In conclusion, you need to complete the thought. You can briefly repeat the thesis statement and summarize the entire essay.
Writing style
The length of an essay depends on the requirements of the particular educational institution. There is no need to add as much information as possible, the main thing in an academic essay is the content.
The presentation style of an essay is formal. It is better not to use too many religious terms; you can dilute them with lyrical expressions. The teacher must see that you have a good understanding of the essay requirements and adhere to them.
Questions to Answer before Writing a Bible Essay
Before writing an essay about Bible, ask yourself these questions:
- What do I want to tell the reader about the Bible? How can I formulate this succinctly and clearly?
- Why does the Bible matter to me?
- How can I provide evidence for my opinion?
- What would I say about this essay if another student wrote it?
As a rule, the answers to these questions will tell you in which direction to move and what to write.
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