Why the Bible Matters to Me
- Keith Stanglin
- Mar 26
- 2 min read
CCS in Wimberley this Saturday
In recent years, there has been a surge in printed Bible sales. In 2024, compared with the previous year, there was a 1% increase in print book sales in general. But for printed Bibles, in 2024, there was a 22% increase in Bible sales compared with the previous year. In fact, the trend is a few years old. In the U.S., 8.9 million printed Bibles were sold in all of 2020, steadily increasing, then to 13.7 million in just the first 10 months of 2024.
Interestingly, publishers claim that the trend is fueled by many first-time buyers. Perhaps this includes first-time readers.
Why the surge? What is going on? Isn’t the Bible just old, boring, and irrelevant? For what reasons are people buying Bibles, especially for the first time? Well, the data don’t tell us—and I guess the researchers didn’t ask people—why they bought a Bible. But this didn’t stop those who reported the statistics from speculating. Back in November, when the sales through October were reported, a Wall Street Journal reporter attributed the sales to “worries about the economy, conflicts abroad and uncertainty over the election.” I don’t doubt that such worries could be an important factor. Commenting on this trend, Roman Catholic Bishop Robert Barron offered a more positive perspective, suggesting that people are seeking meaning, purpose, and value.
Whatever the reason, this trend reflects quite a shift in the culture. Just two decades ago, the so-called “New Atheism” was all the rage, and, ten years ago, the “nones,” (that is, those unaffiliated with any religion) were the fastest growing religious demographic in the country. But on Feb. 26, 2025, Pew Research reported that the rise of the “nones” in the U.S. has leveled off since 2019, and key measures of religious belief and practice have held steady since then. The numerical decline of Christianity has also leveled off. Are the culture and demographic reality still much different than 50 years ago, when it comes to Christian faith? Certainly! What will the future hold for religion in America? Who knows? But the long trend away from faith has measurably ceased, at least for now.
And this new openness to faith coincides with a new openness to the Christian Scriptures, the Bible.
Maybe you’re one of these recent Bible purchasers. Are you a first-time reader? Or a returning reader? Or maybe you’re still reading and never stopped. Whether you’re the person wondering if Bible reading is for you, or if you’re the person who never goes a day without reading the Bible, or you’re agnostic about it all, we should consider why the Bible is worth reading and why it matters.
Please join me and the Center for Christian Studies this Saturday, March 29, in Wimberley, Texas, for my talk on “Why Does the Bible Matter to Me?” The free event will be hosted by the Wimberley Church of Christ, as a Meet and Greet Neighbor event, at the Wimberley Community Center Blanco Room, 14068 Ranch Rd. 12, Wimberley, TX 78676, from 5:30 to 7:00 pm. Any interested central Texas folks, believers and non-believers alike, are welcome to join us. I hope to see you there.
Contact us to host a similar event in your church or community.
Yorumlar