‘Access Bible’ Designed To Assist Lay Study

Sat., Oct. 2, 1999

David Crumm Detroit Free Press

The Access Bible (Oxford University Press, 2,209 pages, $30-$80)

Millions of Americans study the Bible each week, and national surveys suggest the number is growing every year.

The result is a bonanza for Bible publishers, who have nearly exhausted themselves designing boutique Bibles for every imaginable demographic niche.

There are Bibles geared toward men, women, teenagers, children, infants, pregnant women, athletes, people recovering from addictions, and so on.

Unfortunately, most niche Bibles are stronger on design than scholarship. Many tailor their messages by adding inspirational essays designed for the target audience rather than delving deeply into serious Bible study.

Scholarly publishers haven’t helped much, either. Serious study Bibles often are full of arcane terms and so many references to Greek and Hebrew that the average reader feels lost in a foreign landscape.

Arising from this confusing swamp of biblical choices, Oxford University Press has published a landmark volume called simply “The Access Bible.” The Web site for it - www.accessbible.com - captures the concept nicely: “Now there’s a Bible for the rest of us.”

Oxford’s basic Bible text is the New Revised Standard Version, an English translation of the Scriptures that is widely accepted by Roman Catholics and mainline Protestants and that is already available in many other editions.

Then, Oxford editors added a broad array of study aids for the average reader. Hundreds of helpful explanatory notes were inserted throughout the Bible - right where readers’ questions will arise.

Potentially confusing words are marked with a tiny star, which means you can read more about them in a glossary at the end of the book. Never heard of Gilgamesh? Well, the glossary explains it’s an ancient Mesopotamian story about a disastrous flood that’s similar to the story of Noah.

A 73-page concordance indexes many of the names, places and major topics in the Bible. There are 28 pages of fully indexed maps.

Oxford editors should be applauded for deftly walking this middle course between cutting-edge scholarship and the average reading levels most of us bring to studying these sacred texts.

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