This ministry, founded in 1968, merged in 1992 with the International Bible Society, which later became Biblica. In 1972, 1973, and 1974, The Living Bible was the biggest-selling book in America and went on to be translated into around 100 different languages through the ministry boosted by the success of Living Letters: Living Bibles International. His paraphrased Bible was used by God to bring me to Him, and I’m so grateful for Dr. Taylor after I’d signed on to write some books for Tyndale House. It’s hard to put into words what I felt when I had the privilege to meet Dr.
I found Christ as my savior in February 1976. Over the months that I read the New Testament in The Living Bible, God began to work in my life. I had tried to read the Bible before (King James, starting in Genesis), but when I picked up that Living Bible, for some reason I opened to Matthew. “It was in 1975 when my mother, a new Christian herself, gave Living Bibles to me and my brother-both of us were married and young parents at the time. Since publication, The Living Bible has been used by God to reach and relate to millions of his people, often being cited as a major factor in how people came to Christ. For the first time Bibles were being sold in grocery stores, drugstores, and even department stores like Sears and J. The publication of The Living Bible turned the world of Bible publishing upside down. The Living Bible, on the other hand, used contemporary terminology and everyday English syntax, making the Scriptures and, crucially, their meaning far more accessible to the everyday reader. The wording of the KJV was difficult for many readers in the twentieth century, both because of the antiquated language and because of the word-for-word style of the translation. The Living Bible was dramatically different from the King James Version, which had been the predominant English translation since it was first published in 1611. Taylor said he had a dream “for all peoples of the world to read and understand God’s Word and experience its power at work in their lives.” Taylor, author of The Living Bible and founder of Tyndale House Publishers, started writing the Bible paraphrase for his children, who struggled to comprehend what was really being said in the old language of the King James Version (KJV). Its purpose is to say as exactly as possible what the writers of the Scriptures meant, and to say it simply.ĭr.
Written in easy-to-understand, modern English, The Living Bible is a paraphrase of the Old and New Testaments. In over 40 years since its original release, The Living Bible has touched well over 40 million lives in North America alone and been sold all around the world.
Bringing together Living Letters (1962), a book The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association gave away millions of copies of during their Crusades, as well as the subsequent books in the Living series: In 1971 Tyndale House Publishers released the highly anticipated The Living Bible.