So today is the release date for the NLT Mosaic Bible (available at amazon.com). Tyndale is hosting a virtual launch party, complete with a contest. Full disclosure: the prospect of winning a copy is part of the motivation of this post.

I first heard about this Bible a few weeks ago while I was on vacation. Tyndale alerted me about it since I participate in their Blogger Review Program. I was too busy vacationing to follow up about it, and by the time I did, all the review copies were gone. They're hosting a blog tour associated with the release, so everyone who did get a review copy will also have some "value-added" content on their blogs: guest posts from the editors, Q&A sessions, etc. I think that's a pretty slick turn of marketing on Tyndale's part, and a great way for me to discover more Bible-related blogs to read.

This edition of the Bible itself looks interesting, too. As I've stated before, the more time I spend with the NLT, the more of a fan I become. The features in this edition have the possibility of being very promising. From their website:

Holy Bible: Mosaic is about helping you encounter Christ in a deep and authentic way, through insight from every continent and century of the Christian Church. Historical and contemporary art and writings from across the globe offer a depth of Scriptural wisdom and understanding as you read and reflect on God’s word.

Mosaic is arranged so that every week has variety of content for reading and reflection. Each week follows a theme appropriate to the Church season (such as Advent, Easter, etc). The content included for each week includes full-color art; Scripture readings; a historical reading; a contemporary reading; a prayer, creed, hymn or quote; and space for reflection.

Over the past year or so, I've been much more interested in the history of the Church. (Yes, ironic since I'm now a worship leader in a more contemporary (Dare I say emerging? No, probably not.) setting). The time I've spent with my TDP over the past year has been a true blessing. I should spend more time with it. Another resource with similar content is something I'd love to look at, especially if it's something that I could take with me when I travel. The TDP is really too big and bulky to travel with in addition to a Bible. This might fill both roles.

On the other hand, there's a tremendous opportunity for Tyndale to fail with this endeavor, too. I didn't find any good examples of what the pages look like, so I don't know how they integrate the information with the Bible text. Or how good the information is. Based on what they put out with the NLT Study Bible last year, though, I have high hopes for this edition. I'll be watching the blogs that are reviewing it in order to decide whether or not to add it to my "gift list" this birthday/Christmas season.

Or maybe I'll get lucky and win a copy.

For the Bible Study I'm taking part in this year, I've been using my NLT Study Bible and have really been enjoying it. Using the NLT is helping me take a fresh look at Scriptures, especially passages that I'm fairly familiar with.

Whenever I read out loud in our meetings, at least one of the other participants comments on how much they enjoy hearing the NLT and comparing it with their version (usually an NKJV or NIV). A few weeks ago one of the other participants said that she was going to go look for an NLT for herself, based on hearing the passages I've read in our group meetings. After our meeting was over, I let her thumb through my Bible a bit and compare it to her NKJV. I pointed out that the study notes in my study Bible were somewhat similar to the study notes she had in her study Bible and suggested that she consider looking for Life Application Study Bible NLT in order to get a different set of notes. I used to love the notes in my Life App Bible, but in recent years, I've gravitated towards Bibles with more "scholarly" notes. But I still enjoy recommending the Life App Bible to people who are looking for a Bible with notes that can be used in devotional reading settings, and can help challenge them directly to find a way to apply the Bible's teaching to their daily lives.

Last week, she showed up for our meeting with a new Life App NLT. She had it again tonight and I asked her how she was liking it. She was very exited about it -- it's like the Word is opening up to her fresh and new, just by being exposed to a new translation.

This is exactly why I like having multiple translations available: any translation will be necessarily imperfect, and having multiple choices to compare with each other helps bring a fuller understanding of the Scripture. The same is true for the multitude of kinds of notes available: some are suitable for some kinds of study, some for others, and I think it's good to be familiar with the various kinds of study notes that are available.

Thanks to Laura Bartlett and the blogger review program at Tyndale House Publishers, I have a copy of Discover God Study Bible: New Living Translation that I've been looking at for the past couple of weeks. I like this Bible and anticipate using it regularly as part of my devotional reading and personal study.

Like many study Bibles, this is a fairly thick book. It's a hardcover, with close to 2500 pages. It's dimensions are similar to textbooks I had in college -- it's big enough that you'll think twice before toting it to church, but not so big that it keeps you from opening it and diving in. The text is the New Living Translation (NLT), which I am liking more and more, the more I use my NLT Study Bible in conjunction with this year's Bible Study at church. The text is laid out in single columns, with cross-references in the gutters, and study notes in double columns in a slightly smaller font. This is by far my favorite way to present the text of the Bible. There are full-color maps in the back and additional study aids in the front (more on this later). The only aspect of the physical layout of this Bible that I don't like is that the words of Christ are in red. When I was a kid, I loved red letter Bibles, but not so much anymore. All in all, though, that's a fairly minor complaint.

So what sets this Bible apart from other study Bibles? Why turn to yet another study Bible when there are so many choices already out there? For me, I like having lots and lots of choices. Editors bring different biases to each edition, and I think that having more choices helps keep everyone honest. I like to use different versions so as not to become too dependent on any one particular interpretation. Here's what Tyndale says sets the Discover God Study Bible apart from other choices:

Every problem in life is based on an incorrect view of God. The Discover God Study Bible is the first study Bible specifically designed to address this problem. Every note and feature draws the reader to a deeper understanding of who God is and how He can transform their life. it features an easy-to-use TopicGuide to every major topic and teaching of the Bible.

This study Bible does a good job of fulfilling the goal of relating the study notes to a deeper understanding of who God is. I think this focus in the notes is one of the primary things that makes this a good Bible for devotional reading and personal study. I've skimmed through most of the notes and read all of the notes for 1 John. They remind me of the notes in a "life application" study Bible, but with a little more scholarly feel. These are not the notes you'll be going to in order to debate finer points of theology or original language studies, but they are the notes you'll be going to if you want to be challenged to seriously think about what the Bible text says about God, and how you relate to him.

The introductions before each book are well done. They're usually two or three pages long and give a good overview of the book: the author, main themes, date of writing, etc. They also include a "Discover God in..." and a "Growing Through..." section that are very good at guiding you how to read through the book with an eye to deepening your understanding of God and encouraging spiritual growth.

I'm a sucker for special features in Bibles, and the Discover God Study Bible has a great one: the Topic Guide and Topic Link System. At the beginning of the Bible are about 50 pages listing important scripture passages, categorized in 10 topics: Bible, Holiness, God, Warfare, Salvation, Church, Worship, Purpose, Adoption, and Ministry. Each topic is further subdivided into more granular subtopics and passages related to the subtopic are listed. For example, under "God -> God's Attributes -> All-powerful," we see that God has power to deliver (Exod. 13:3; Judg. 7:2; Ps. 7:1). No, it's not a comprehensive list, but it's a good representative sampling. In the notes for the text itself, there are frequent references to the Topic Guide, so when you're studying a given passage, it's easy to find other passages related to the same topic.

All in all, if you're looking for a Bible to use for devotional reading and personal study, the Discover God Study Bible is a great choice. For more information, check out Tyndale's promo site (which includes a "how to use" video) and amazon.com.

About a week ago, I received a copy of 24/7: A One Year Chronological Bible from Tyndale as part of their Blogger Review program. I've spent some time with it, and I'm pretty happy with it.

So, what is this Bible? It's an edition of the NLT arranged in chronological order, broken into daily reading chunks. It's an interesting way of looking at the Bible, since several of the books cover material that happened at the same time. Obvious examples are books of prophesy that were written during times that are described in Kings, the four gospels all tell the story of Christ's life, and Paul's letters were written during the events described in the book of Acts. The idea is that instead of the traditional arrangement of the books, the text is rearranged so that you read things in a more narrative flow. I like the idea of doing that, but any implementation of such a timeline is sure to cause arguments. The timeline that 24/7 is using appears reasonable to me, but I'm no scholar. The Bible includes a four page general timeline, so it's pretty easy to see the choices the editors made for ordering the text. The Bible itself is fairly small (5" x 6.5") and thick (2224 pages). The paper is of reasonable quality and the text is in a readable font, laid out well in a single column. Each day's reading covers a chunk that can be read in about 10 or 15 minutes, marked for reading starting on January 1 and going through every day until December 31. Every four years, you get February 29 off.

Another interesting feature are woodcut images that are included on each page. There are 12 images that represent different aspects of Christianity, and each month features a different image. When I first saw that listed as a feature, I pretty much dismissed it, but as I spent more time with the Bible, they grew on me.

There are few reference features with this Bible. The NLT translation notes are included, but there are no study notes. In the back is a daily reading guide, showing which scriptures are included on each day. In the text itself, the scripture references are plainly marked and it is easy to see when you are moving from one book to another. At the same time, these markings are not distracting. Also in the back is a list of all of the chunks of scripture passages that are scattered throughout the narrative. This makes it possible to know what page to turn to if you want to find a particular scripture reference. Because the text is not arranged canonically, this Bible is not appropriate as a general reference Bible, but I don't hold that against it since it doesn't try to be a general reference Bible. That's about as far as it goes for reference material.

What don't I like about this Bible? My number one complaint is the same complaint I have with almost any "read the Bible in a year" reading plan. The plan is constructed around the calendar. I.e., there is a reading for January 1, January 2, etc. until December 31. This is a great way to structure your reading if you commit to reading the Bible in sync with the calendar. I think that's a very bad expectation, though. If you miss a day, you're tempted to read extra on the next day to try and "catch up." If you miss too many days, you're tempted to give up and try again next time January 1 rolls around. That's what happened to me this year. I was doing really good until the middle of June, when I got so far behind that I just gave up. Since then, I've been hit-n-miss with other kinds of devotional reading, in addition to the other kinds of reading I do for the various studies in which I'm involved. Structuring the reading this way also encourages people to put the Bible aside until January 1 rolls around, when it's "time" to start. I wonder how many people never get around to starting. I also wonder how many people have successfully gone through the January-March portion of a reading plan, but never got further. I would much rather see a reading plan like this labeled as Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, ... Day 365 instead of forcing it to sync with the calendar. So what if that means you end up going through the one-year plan in a year and a half, or two, or three years? If you miss a day, there's no artificial pressure to catch up. If this edition is ever updated, I hope they change the labels on the daily readings. That goes the same for pretty much any other reading plan I've ever seen.

Compared to that complaint, the other thing I don't like about this Bible is pretty minor. I wish it wasn't as thick. I'd be happy for it to be a little taller and wider in order to accommodate a thinner version. It's current dimensions aren't bad, but I'd still tweak it a little bit.

What do I like about this Bible? I really like how it seems to want to be read. Not studied like a textbook, but read like a story. I mentioned before that it's not an appropriate reference Bible, and that really contributes to its readability in a devotional setting. Its lack of a lot of reference material will ensure that you focus on the text itself and not start chasing (and putting undue emphasis on) study notes. Each daily reading is appropriately sized for both length and content. As I mentioned earlier, the woodcut images provide additional "warmth" to the daily readings.

In the end, I recommend this Bible to anyone who is interested in using a structured reading plan to read the Bible. I think going through it in the chronological manner presented here would be a pretty cool way to do it, and probably more engaging than a lot of other plans. I've you're already using a reading plan that is working for you, there's probably not a pressing need to run out and get this one -- stick with what you're doing and consider this if you later decide you want to change things up a bit. It's priced at $18, which makes it an affordable addition to your own library (it's a good 2nd Bible, not a primary Bible) or as a gift.

I see that the Internet Monk has also reviewed this Bible. I agree with his thoughts, too.

In the past couple of weeks, I've received a couple of new Bibles. I've spent some time with both of them, and am liking them both. I'll write more about them each in the next few days.

The first Bible is the TNIV Reference Bible that I won from the thislamp.com giveaway. It feels great in my hand and I really enjoyed teaching out of it this past Sunday. The second is a copy of 24/7: A One Year Chronological Bible that I received from Tyndale as part of their Blogger Review program. I've enjoyed reading it in a devotional setting.

The Johnny Cash DVD/CD I won from mental_floss arrived a week or so ago. It's really awesome! The CD is full of gospel music, always a great addition to my collection. I was wondering how the DVD would work and I'm really impressed with how they executed it. It's a regular DVD with a lot of menu items -- each entry in the menu is a different chapter of the New Testament. You can set up the preferences to play a chapter at a time, or a whole book at a time. While Cash is reading, the video on the screen is simply a still image of the text being read. So you can read along on screen while Cash is reading out loud.

Of course, one of the first things I wanted to hear Cash read after playing around with the menus a little was Revelation....

Friday, I received my copy of The Reformation Study Bible. I haven't spent a whole lot of time with it, but I have turned every page (to unstick the gilding). I have the burgundy genuine leather edition. It feels good in my hands and looks very nice.

Peeking inside, the first thing I read was the introduction by R. C. Sproul. It's a page and a half and provides a very quick recap of the history of the Reformation. It's interesting as far as it goes, but I think a lengthier article would have been appropriate. After reading that introduction, I thumbed through the rest of the Bible and found very familiar features: introductions to each book, two columns of text, two columns of study notes, a center column cross-reference system, maps, charts, etc. One of the features I really like here are the introductions to major sections of the Bible (Pentateuch, Historical Books, Hebrew Poetry, Wisdom Literature, Prophets, Intertestamental Period, Gospels an Acts, Epistles). These introductions are about two pages long, so they provide a quick overview without getting bogged down into details. Throughout the Bible there are also about 100 short "theological notes" on various subjects such as miracles, satan, the sacraments, resurrection and glorification, and heaven. I suspect that these notes are were most of the reformation theology is going to be found (see, e.g., the note on "The Lord's Supper").

I read through the notes for Jonah and I like them. They're not overly stuffy, but they have some depth to them. They are pretty similar to study notes I've read in other editions. All in all, they're very readable, and make a good pairing with the ESV text.

My overall impression of this Bible is that I like it, but I don't think it's going to bubble up to be one of my favorite editions. The overall study notes are comparable with other editions. The special features are interesting, but kinda fit a niche market. And for a Bible that claims to be a Reformation Study Bible, I'm not sure that there's enough study materials about the Reformation to really stand out. I suspect that I would find this more useful if I were directly studying the history and theology of the Reformation. Right now, that's not where I focus my studies, so I'm not really sure that I'm the target market for this Bible.

I have a feeling that the more time I spend with it, the more I'm going to end up liking it, though.

Get a Reformation Study Bible for a donation of any amount.

Hat tip to The Foolish Galatian.

When I won a very nice TNIV a few weeks ago, Rick asked me to submit a profile of how my ministry and how I use the TNIV in it. He's been profiling all the winners, and my profile showed up on his blog yesterday.

I've been spending more time with my NLT Study Bible and have really been enjoying it. I decided that I will use it as my primary bible for this year's Disciple Bible Study. We're nearing the end of the second week in the study, so I've had a few more hours with this Bible as part of the studying. I'm trying to make sure that I have enough time in my preparation to read both the assigned text and the study notes related to that text. So far for this study, I've been through several chapters in Deuteronomy as well as I and II Kings.The more I use this Bible, the more I like it. The notes really help enhance the reading without being lame.

I'm also doing a better job of keeping up with my daily devotional reading. For that, I'm using the ESV Literary Study Bible that I received for my birthday last year. I'm also really enjoying this one. It doesn't have the notes on individual verses like other Study Bibles do, but the section notes they have for each of the sections are interesting. They really focus on the literary aspects of the text. It's a bit different approaching the Scripture from that mindset in my devotional reading, and I think it's a good approach for me. It helps me to re-examine familiar passages through a new lens and, in general, helps me to stay more actively interested in continuing the daily readings.

For my Sunday School lesson prep, I continue to rely on the various translations and tools I use through Accordance, the best Bible software in the world. It really helps simplify the work I do for class.

A few weeks ago, I received a copy of the NLT Study Bible and wrote my first impressions about it. Well, I've spent a little more time with it and still like it.

I decided to give 1 John a good read to get a feel about it. I chose 1 John for a couple of reasons: it's short and I'm already pretty familiar with it. In addition to that, I read several of the general articles throughout the Bible.

The first thing that strikes me is how readable the NLT text itself is. It's been a while since I've regularly used the NLT and it was refreshing to simply read the text. I'm not going really go into the translation philosophy. You either like it or you don't. Personally, I very much enjoy having a variety of translations to work and study from.

As I mentioned earlier, the text is double-columned. I prefer a single-column format, but I think the double-column will be fine. I haven't spent much time in the poetry sections, which is where a double-column format tends to fall apart, so my opinion may change once I spend some time with the Psalms, e.g. The triple-columned format for the study notes works great. It creates an easy visual difference between the text and the notes, and the notes are generally short enough that the column width doesn't seem annoyingly short. One of things I love about the the page layout is the presentation of the cross-references. There are ample cross-references, without being overwhelming. They are located in the gutter, so the text doesn't disappear into the spine. In addition to the cross-references, there is a word study system available. This is definitely a feature that I want to explore more.

I read several of the general articles and found them to be informative and readable. I especially liked that they feature "Future Reading" notes. I don't know that I'll use those notes to dig deeper, but it's nice to have some suggestions if I want to start digging in. The book introductions include the standard fare: a summary of the book, an outline, and general study notes. One of the things that is also included that I will find useful is a timeline. The timeline features key events that are covered in the book as well as including other events that are going on in the world. In Sunday School the past few weeks, timing questions have been popping up more than usual -- trying to determine how long after the Exodus the book of Isaiah was written, e.g. I already have study materials that I can use to find that information, but I think this is the first Bible I have that has that information readily available where I'm likely to need it.

As I read 1 John and the accompanying notes, I'm happy to say that the notes helped me understand the text. In 1 John, e.g., much of what John writes is to specifically counter heresies that the early church faced. The study notes do a great job of pointing out exactly which heresies are addressed by John's arguments. I was very impressed by the depth of the notes -- they were deeper than I anticipated, but they were not overly difficult to read and understand.

All in all, I'm pretty impressed with this Bible and plan to incorporate it into my Sunday School lesson preparation. However, I'm not sure that I'll use the print version as much as I'll use the web version.

This brings me to perhaps the most impressive aspect of the NLTSB: the online version of it. Owners of the NLTSB also have unlimited access to the web version. Anyone can sign up for a free 30-day trial, as well. The online version appears to have all of the features of the print version. Cross-references are hyperlinks. Articles, maps, timelines, etc. are available as other links. Study notes are on the right side of the page, next to the text. All in all, it's laid out very well. The graphics that are available online are large and high-quality. I'd much rather look at the JPG version of a map at full size on the computer than the small version that is printed in book. Although I can't find it now, I'm sure that I previously read that the maps, charts, graphs, etc. are fine for using in ministry situations (like teaching my Sunday School class, e.g.).

There are a few shortcomings to the web interface. The most obvious to me was that after I enter a search term and press "Enter", it doesn't search. I have to move my cursor to the "Search" button and click it. As someone who tends to use as many keyboard shortcuts as possible, this is a bit of an annoyance. I haven't checked it on my Windows laptop yet -- perhaps it's a limitation of Safari. The good news is that since it's a web interface, there's hope that they will continue to improve it.

All in all, I'm impressed with this Bible. None of the annoyances I've noticed so far are deal-breakers, and several of the features are unique to any other Bible I have. Previously, I speculated that it was big and heavy enough that I wouldn't be "snuggling up" with it very often. I'm not so sure that's the case now. It's a warm read, not dry, and I can see myself using it in a casual manner more often than I originally anticipated.

At this point, my biggest wish would be that the NLTSB were available as an Accordance module for my computer.

A few weeks ago, I won a copy of the new NLT Study Bible by asking a question at the NLT Blog and getting randomly picked. The "contest" is going on for another week and a half and daily entries are low, so if you're interested and ask a question over there, you've got a decent chance of winning one, too.

Anyway, the Bible arrived today. I spent about two minutes with it so far, so my initial review is very much an uninformed first impression. So far, it's exactly what I expected based on what I've already read about it in various forums.

It's heavy enough that I'm probably not going to be carrying it to and from church with me -- it's going to end up on my desk and in my bookshelf at home. It's too big to "snuggle up" with, so it probably won't get much use for casual or devotional reading. It's not so big and heavy that it will be unwieldy to use in a "study" setting, though. I'll probably use it when preparing my Sunday School lessons, e.g.

I didn't really read any of the text as I thumbed through it this afternoon, but the words on the page appear to be readable. The main text is double columned (I'd prefer a single column). The font size and style appears to be readable. The notes are across three columns. That helps to visually set a difference between the main text and the notes, and I think I'm going to like that -- the columns appear to be wide enough that it won't be uncomfortable to read the notes. Thumbing through the New Testament, I noticed the words of Christ are in red. I'd rather they were in black, like the rest of the text, but I'll probably get used to it without much problem. The paper itself was thin, but not overly thin. I don't remember noticing much room in the margins for note-taking.

At first glance, this does not look like the Bible I'd pick if I were only allowed to have one Bible -- if for no other reason, it's not very portable. But it might be in my top five.

It's been a while since I've used the NLT for anything other than a quick glance. I'm looking forward to using this study Bible as a way to re-familiarize myself with that translation, as well as take advantage of what appears to be a good set of study notes.

After I've spent more time with it (perhaps giving 1 John and Jonah a thorough several readings), I'll probably write a more detailed review.

Edit: After spending some more time with the Bible, I wrote some more thoughts abut it.

If you're someone who regularly preaches or teaches the Bible in a church or educational setting, you may be eligible to get one of the 10 Renaissance Fine Leather TNIV Reference Bibles that Zondervan & This Lamp are giving away. Last I looked, not all of the Bibles have been claimed.

I've never really been good at daily devotional Bible reading. Every now and then I get started on a plan, but just eventually peter out. Well, this year, I've been doing pretty well keeping up with a plan. I got the ESV Literary Study Bible for my birthday last year and it had a good reading plan in the back of it, so I decided to go for it. A couple of times this year, I've fallen behind a day, but I've usually kept up very well. The past week, I fell six days behind, but I'm all caught up again.

Daily reading like this is one of those things that you always know is a good thing to be part of your life. You know you should be doing it. But it's real easy to get away with not doing it. Now that I've been pretty consistent with it for several months, I don't think I can afford to get out of the habit. It is so helpful in my daily life in general. I'm already looking forward to next year, when I'm planning on using a different translation for my devotional reading (and probably a different reading plan). After a few years, I'll have read through the Bible completely in several translations, which is something I'm pretty excited about working on.

Several of the blogs I read talk about devotional reading from time to time. One of them pointed to a post by Garrett about making his own reading plan. It's a great idea, and I might do something similar to that in the future. One of the things that really stuck out, however, was his insight about making time for adding devotional reading into an already busy schedule:

Before I elaborate on why, let's get a certain lame excuse out of the way: "I don't have time" doesn't cut it. If God wants you to do it, He will allow you time. There's twenty-four hours in a day, so figure it out. If you spend an hour a day on the Internet reading things like this article, and you're not reading the Bible on a regular basis, stop reading this article, turn off your computer, and go pick up your Bible.

That's some of the best advice I've seen about it. It's pretty much what I ended up doing, too -- when I decided to make an effort to consistently add devotional reading to my schedule, I made the time for it by reducing the amount of other stuff on the web I read. It's also one of the reasons I don't post in LJ as much. There are only so many hours in a day, and being more consistent with my Bible reading is more important than most of the other things I was spending my time on.

I just submitted an essay to win Matt's Blank Bible. Matt made the Bible with a Reformation Study Bible and a bit of hard work.

At one point, I entertained the idea of creating my own Blank Bible by printing out the Bible text using Accordance, inserting blank pages, and getting it spiral-bound. I quickly decided that doing so was just going to be too costly at the time. I still think about creating my own Blank Bible from time to time, though -- I'd really enjoy using one.

I know a few of you who read this might have use for a Blank Bible, too. If you do, write an essay and throw your name in the hat.

I think I have a new favorite blog: Bible Design And Binding. This guy really loves his Bibles, and he really loves his Bibles to be constructed well.

It's hard to read his blog and not just want to go out and buy a bunch of new Bibles.