Stephanie Ridge
PR by the Book – Austin, Texas
(512) 501-4399 x703
stephanie@prbythebook.com
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A few years ago, the idea of consulting the Good Book online might have raised eyebrows. But thanks to Bible apps, Bible websites, and multimedia Bibles on CD-ROM, liturgy has gone comfortably high-tech in the 21st century.
Thanks to a new fully interactive digital Bible, Bible-toting Christians can now lighten their load. Today, coinciding with their October 2010 release of the HCSB Study Bible, LifeWay Christian Resources announced a new online service to read and study the Bible: www.MyStudyBible.com.
LifeWay’s MyStudyBible.com is a public beta site that previews the features and content weeks in advance of its bound version, the HCSB Study Bible. The site contains the complete HCSB Study Bible and commentary notes, as well as select content from books like the Holman New Testament Commentary, and references from Strong’s Greek and Hebrew Dictionary.
MyStudyBible.com is a part of LIfeWay’s aggressive digital initiative, which is aimed at anyone who wants to deepen their faith, from serious Bible scholars to everyday Christians.
"Christ was the ultimate storyteller, sharing parables and insights from everyday things around Him to tell truth and Good News,” says Digital Marketing Manager Aaron Linne. “We’re blessed to be born during a time and culture where content, discipleship and truth can spread across the nations at the touch of a button, connecting the bride of Christ in new and powerful ways. We’re just honored to be exploring the possibilities, trying to follow Christ’s example."
The HCSB Study Bible represents the work of 35 scholars, many of whom worked on the translation itself to produce the word studies and translation notes during the translation process. It is the result of a LifeWay.com’s $100,000 national market research campaign with Bible users, to determine the most-desirable Bible design and features.
In addition to print and online editions, LifeWay is publishing the HCSB Study Bible in eBook form for Kindle, Nook, iBook and others, and releasing the HCSB Study Bible app for iPhone and iPad, with other mobile platforms soon to come. The app is now available on iTunes for iPhone and iPad at a limited-time-offer of $9.99. Features include customized reading plans, synced display of Bible text and study notes, synced image display of maps, charts and illustrations, Strong’s Greek & Hebrew definition pop-ups, and more.
“This is the first product in the history of our company that will be releasing with a full scale launch on all print and digital fronts, and it is very fitting that it would be for our flagship HCSB Study Bible,” says
Digital Executive Editor Paul Mikos.
LifeWay has sold more than 6 million HCSB Bibles since the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) translation first launched in 2004. The HCSB is translated directly from the original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic. This week, B&H also announced a newelectronic version (optimized for ebook readers) of the popular HCSB Bible,available to consumers at no cost.
ABOUT LIFEWAY CHRISTIAN RESOURCES – LifeWay, an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, is one of the world’s largest providers of Christian products and services, including Bibles, church literature, books, music, audio and video recordings, church supplies, and Internet services through LifeWay.com. Established in Nashville, Tenn., in 1891, the company owns and operates more than 160 LifeWay Christian Stores throughout the United States, as well as two of the largest Christian conference centers in the country.