I say this in my recent essay “Three Reflections on Evangelical Academic Publishing”:
After finishing my PhD at Trinity, I had some options to teach full-time. But instead I spent four years working full-time on the NIV Zondervan Study Bible.
[footnote] Grand Rapids: Zondervan, forthcoming in fall 2015. It has completely fresh content from new contributors. D. A. Carson is general editor; the associate editors are T. Desmond Alexander, Richard S. Hess, and Douglas J. Moo; and as the assistant editor, I’ve managed the project and helped copyedit all of the notes and essays for content and style.
Its audience is as general as the target audience for the NIV itself: the English-speaking world. The main reason I agreed to give four years full-time (and a fifth year part-time) of my life to this project is that my work with the NIV Zondervan Study Bible may influence more people than the rest of my other publications combined. It is a worthy, strategic cause. (p. 452)
I plan to say more about this study Bible as its August 25 release gets closer. For now this 50-page PDF sample previews some of its features.
Update on 2/17/2015. Some people intensely dislike and disrespect the NIV. I respectfully disagree. I thank God for the NIV. But that doesn’t mean that I’m against other translations. To give just one example, I also love and respect the ESV. That’s the primary translation that my church uses, and I’m currently memorizing the book of 1 Corinthians in the ESV and am under contract to write a Crossway commentary on 1 Corinthians based on the ESV. (And in 2009 I warmly recommended the ESV Study Bible in JETS. And I still enthusiastically commend it!) Good Bible translations are incredibly helpful resources, and English readers should benefit from more than one of them. It’s both-and, not either-or. I thank God for good Bible translators and translations. And since the NIV is the best-selling modern English Bible translation, it seems strategic to produce a high-quality study Bible for it.
Update on 8/18/2015. More info here.
Update on 8/28/2018. Zondervan is repackaging this resource as the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible.
Congratulations, Andy. I was wondering when this was going to come out.
Awesome! Been looking forward to this since you mentioned it a few years ago.
Congratulations, Andy! Thanks for this update and for staying behind to complete this project. As you ably said it, this is going to impact millions of Christians around the world (who can underestimate the impact of the Scofield Reference Bible?)
Did I hear that this study Bible is along the line of biblical theology?
Yes. I’ll plan to say more about that later.
So excited!
Very cool Andy! I look forward to seeing it when it’s out.
Do you know if they’re going to release a Kindle or Logos version at the same time, or are they going to focus on print initially?
Jonathan, I’m not sure what the plans are re timing, but I know that Zondervan plans to make this study Bible available digitally as well as in print. (I think we’ll know more as we get closer to the launch.)
I have longed for such a study Bible for the NIV (including the integrated color pictures and charts), particularly as I labor and teach among the international community here in the Research Triangle Park. It is, indeed, a worthy cause in His kingdom. Thanks!
Thanks, Andy. I can’t wait to read the fruits of your labor.
Only in Hardcover so far?
http://nivzondervanstudybible.com/purchase/
Thanks for the link!
Good Day! I am one of those you mentioned you might influence : ) I thank our Heavenly Father for the work you all did. I seriously enjoy regular devotions and study.
The question Jonathan Bates brings about electronic formats: I can say that I am VERY PLEASED with what has been done. The software has been exceptionally well done, from the UI (User Interface), to getting back to where you where, to easily finding cross-references, and well appreciated notes.
There is a code in the back of the Bible to register and I actively use the one license on all my gear. I train folks in technology and never know what I may need so, I put it on all the following: macOS, iOS on both the iPhone and iPad, Windows 10, and Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 running Android. Superb!!! Best purchase I can say I made – like ever!! seriously!
I am glad to glean from your labors Andy and am thankful for our Lord’s provision.