Zondervan

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Zondervan
ZondervanLogo.png
Parent company HarperCollins
Founded1931
FounderPeter Zondervan
Bernard Zondervan
Country of originUnited States
Headquarters location Grand Rapids, Michigan
Publication typesBooks, Textbooks, Reference, Digital Books, Video
Nonfiction topicsChristianity, Religion, Inspirational, Personal Growth, Self Help
Fiction genres Various
Imprints Zondervan Academic, Zondervan Reflective, Zonderkidz
Owner(s) News Corp
No. of employees100+
Official website www.zondervan.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). It is a part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc. and has multiple imprints including Zondervan Academic, Zonderkidz, Blink, and Editorial Vida. [1] Zondervan is the commercial rights holder for the New International Version (NIV) Bible in North America. According to the Zondervan website, it is the largest Christian publisher.

Contents

History

Zondervan was founded in 1931 in Grandville, MI, a suburb of Grand Rapids, by brothers Peter ("P.J.", "Pat") and Bernard (Bernie) Zondervan, who were the nephews of publisher William B. Eerdmans. [2] [3] The company began in the Zondervans' farmhouse and originally dealt with selling remainders and publishing public domain works.

The first book it published was Women of the Old Testament by Abraham Kuyper, in 1933. [4] Within a few years it developed a list of its own, and began publishing Bible editions. The Berkeley Version appeared in 1959, and the Amplified Bible in 1965. The New International Version New Testament was published in partnership with the International Bible Society in 1973, and the complete NIV Bible appeared in 1978. [5] The company was bought by HarperCollins, a division of News Corp, in 1988, and is the company's principal Christian book publishing division. [6] Scott Macdonald was appointed president and CEO in May 2011. [7]

Zondervan also publishes many other books by Christian authors focusing on topics of interest to Christians. In the 1970s it published The Late, Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey, which has sold more than 30 million copies. The publisher is also known for the Bible storytelling books of Ethel Barrett, Joni by quadriplegic Joni Eareckson Tada, Baptist minister and author Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life , which has sold more than 35 million copies, and Sacred Marriage, by Gary Thomas. In 2004, Zondervan expanded to include Renee Altson, Shane Claiborne, Sarah Raymond Cunningham and Margaret Feinberg, authors writing for young readers. [8]

The children's arm of the company Zonderkidz published The Jesus Storybook Bible in 2007, written by Sally Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by Jago. It has sold in excess of 2 million copies in 19 languages. [9] [10]

The NIV Zondervan Study Bible was released in 2015 during the 50th anniversary of the New International Version (NIV) translation. [11] The study Bible, edited by Dr. D. A. Carson, features over 60 evangelical contributors from multiple denominations.

On 11 March 2019, Zondervan announced the formation of two new imprints, Zondervan Reflective and Zondervan Academic. [12] Although both imprints ran informally at Zondervan for several years this announcement formalized their public brand.

Zondervan Reflective focuses on publishing books discussing the relationship between faith and culture, leadership, and how Christians can lead biblically faithful lives privately and in the public square. Noted authors include Andy Stanley, Clay Scroggins, J.D. Greear, Colin Hansen, Tim Challies, Michael Horton, Jared Wilson, John Lennox, Jemar Tisby, and Peter Scazzero. On 28 June 2020, Jemar Tisby's The Color of Compromise reached #13 on the New York Times Best Sellers list. [13]

Zondervan Academic publishes reference volumes, textbooks, and monographs, for both use in schools and by many pastors. It is widely known for its biblical language resources, including the bestselling textbooks Basics of Biblical Greek, Basics of Biblical Hebrew, and many others. The imprint also publishes several popular commentary series, including the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary, Story of God Bible Commentary, and Word Biblical Commentary. Noted authors include N.T. Wright, Douglas Moo, Scot McKnight, Michael Bird, John Walton, Michael Horton, Dan Wallace, Bruce Waltke, Tremper Longman, Thomas Kidd, Craig Keener, Thomas Schreiner, Nijay Gupta, Lynn Cohick, and D.A. Carson.

Recording business

Zondervan was in the Christian record business for many years with the Singspiration and Zondervan Victory labels in the 1960s, Singcord in the 1970s, and the Milk & Honey Records label, starting in the late 1970s. [14]

In 1980, Zondervan and Paragon Associates bought Christian record label Benson Records in a partnership to own and operate for $3 million. [15] The resulting company was (measured by sales) one and a half times the size of its closest competitor, Word. [15] Zondervan bought out Paragon in 1983, and eventually sold Benson to Zomba Label Group in 1993, now a part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment. [16]

Pradis

Pradis was the trademarked name for Zondervan's native format for biblical software. On September 22, 2009, Logos Research Systems, Inc, [17] and Zondervan announced a new partnership, and the retirement of Pradis. [18] Thirty-one titles were slated for availability in "early 2010" in the LOGOS Bible Software format. [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New International Version</span> English translation of the Bible

The New International Version (NIV) is a translation of the Bible into contemporary English. Published by Biblica, the complete NIV was released in 1978 with a minor revision in 1984 and a major revision in 2011. The NIV relies on recently-published critical editions of the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts.

A study Bible is an edition of the Bible prepared for use by a serious student of the Bible. It provides scholarly information designed to help the reader gain a better understanding of and context for the text.

The New International Reader's Version (NIrV) is a translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Translated by the International Bible Society following a similar philosophy as the New International Version (NIV), but written in a simpler form of English, this version seeks to make the Bible more accessible for children and people who have difficulty reading English, such as non-native English speakers. The authors describe it as a special edition of the NIV written at a third grade reading level.

Gordon Donald Fee was an American-Canadian Christian theologian who was an ordained minister of the Assemblies of God (USA). He was professor of New Testament Studies at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The NIV Study Bible is a study Bible originally published by Zondervan in 1985 that uses the New International Version (NIV). Revisions include one in 1995, a full revision in 2002, an update in October 2008 for the 30th anniversary of the NIV, another update in 2011, and a fully revised update in 2020 named "Fully Revised Edition". Its publisher and distributors claim over nine million sold, and claim that it is the world's bestselling study bible.

Craig L. Blomberg is an American New Testament scholar. He is currently the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the New Testament at Denver Seminary in Colorado where he has been since 1986. His area of academic expertise is the New Testament,including subjects relating to parables, miracles, the historical Jesus, Luke-Acts, John, 1 Corinthians, James, the historical trustworthiness of Scripture, financial stewardship, gender roles, the Latter Day Saint movement, hermeneutics, New Testament theology, and exegetical methods. Blomberg has written and edited multiple books.

Walter C. Kaiser Jr. is an American Evangelical Old Testament scholar, writer, public speaker, and educator. Kaiser is the Colman M. Mockler distinguished Professor of Old Testament and former President of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, retired June 30, 2006. He was succeeded by James Emery White.

Douglas J. Moo is a Reformed New Testament scholar who, after teaching for more than twenty years at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois, served as Blanchard Professor of New Testament at the Wheaton College Graduate School from 2000 until his retirement in 2023. He received his Ph.D. at the University of St. Andrews, in St. Andrews, Scotland.

William D. Mounce is an American scholar of New Testament Greek. He has also worked as an author, teacher and preacher.

George Howard Guthrie is an American biblical scholar who is Professor of New Testament at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. Guthrie holds a Ph.D. in New Testament Studies and is considered to be one of the premier authorities in the United States on the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament. He has authored numerous articles and books. Guthrie was Guest Lecturer at The Bible Institute of South Africa's Winter School in July 2018.

Biblical software or Bible software is a group of computer applications designed to read, study and in some cases discuss biblical texts and concepts. Biblical software programs are similar to e-book readers in that they include digitally formatted books, may be used to display a wide variety of inspirational books and Bibles, and can be used on portable computers. However, biblical software is geared more toward word and phrase searches, accessing study bible notes and commentaries, referencing various modern translations, cross-referencing similar passages and topics, biblical dictionaries, original language texts and language tools, maps, charts, and other e-books deemed relevant to understanding texts from a philological approach.

Tremper Longman III is an Old Testament scholar, theologian, professor and author of several books, including 2009 ECPA Christian Book Award winner Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings.

Mark Lehman Strauss is an American biblical scholar and professor of the New Testament at Bethel Seminary San Diego, which is part of Bethel University, Minnesota. His areas of expertise include New Testament Gospels and Bible translation.

Craig S. Keener is an American Protestant theologian, Biblical scholar and professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary.

David E. Garland served as the interim president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. His term began in June 2016 amid the Baylor sexual assault scandal and resignation of former president Ken Starr. Garland's term concluded on May 31, 2017.

<i>The Jesus Storybook Bible</i> 2007 childrens Bible written by Sally Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by Jago

The Jesus Storybook Bible is a children's Bible written by New York Times bestselling author Sally Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by Jago from Cornwall. The first edition was published in 2007 by Zonderkidz, the children's arm of American Christian media and publishing company Zondervan.

Sally Lloyd-Jones is a British children's book writer.

Barry J. Beitzel is an Old Testament scholar, geographer, cartographer, and translator of the Bible. He currently resides in Mundelein, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Hess</span> American Old Testament scholar (born 1954)

Richard Samuel Hess is an American Old Testament scholar. He is Distinguished Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Denver Seminary.

Mark J. Boda is a Canadian academic and Old Testament scholar, specializing in the literature and theology of the Old Testament.

References

  1. ↑ "Zondervan | HarperCollins Christian Publishing". www.harpercollinschristian.com. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
  2. ↑ Charles L. Cohen, Paul S. Boyer, Religion and the Culture of Print in Modern America, University of Wisconsin Press, USA, 2008, p. 32
  3. ↑ Elmer J. O'Brien, The Wilderness, the Nation, and the Electronic Era: American Christianity and Religious Communication, 1620-2000: An Annotated Bibliography, Scarecrow Press, USA, 2009, p. 593
  4. ↑ "Zondervan History". Zondervan.com. Archived from the original on February 25, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  5. ↑ James Ruark and Ted Engstrom, The House of Zondervan, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981.
  6. ↑ Jim Ruark, The House of Zondervan: Celebrating 75 Years, Zondervan, USA, 2011, p. 200
  7. ↑ Martinez, Shandra (May 4, 2011). "Christian publishing house Zondervan announces new CEO and president". MLive.com. Advance Local Media LLC. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Zondervan Press Release". Zondervan.com. Archived from the original on February 17, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  9. ↑ Burns, Jeremy (August 16, 2013). "'The Jesus Storybook Bible' Tops 1 Million Units Sold - BCNN1". blackchristiannews.com. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  10. ↑ Koonse, Emma (February 10, 2016). "'Jesus Storybook Bible' Sells Two Million Copies". Publishers Weekly. PWxyz, LLC.
  11. ↑ "The Commission for an Accurate, Understandable Bible Version". March 26, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Zondervan officially launches two imprints: Zondervan Reflective and Zondervan Academic". March 11, 2019.
  13. ↑ "Jemar Tisby's the Color of Compromise Hits the New York Times Best Sellers List". June 23, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Zondervan, Singspiration, Singcord, Milk & Honey". Archived from the original on September 15, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
  15. 1 2 "Zondervan-Paragon Pact Carved Out New Benson Co". CCM Magazine . 3 (4): 32. October 1980.
  16. ↑ "Benson Music". Archived from the original on July 26, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  17. ↑ Burns, Ryan (2013). "Logos Bible Software Announces Zondervan Partnership - Logos Bible Software". logos.com. Archived from the original on April 6, 2013. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
  18. ↑ [ dead link ]
  19. ↑ "Zondervan.com". Zondervan.com. Archived from the original on February 17, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
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