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Ferrell seems to me on surer ground when she is surveying the modern period, especially in America. Here her many illustrations and title pages enrich her contention— unfortunately warranted, it seems to me—that in America the Bible in translation becomes increasingly captive to sectarian causes; translations are more likely to be swayed by the culture of the intended readership than constrained by a sense of obligation to the original text. Her discussion of the lavishly illustrated, multi-volume Kitto Bible—a chic leather-bound Bible of the 19th century known for its woodcuts and engravings by Durer, Blake, and others—is both lively and informative.

Perhaps best of all—if most embarrassing for evangelicals—is her exposé of the plethora of market-serving "versions" of the Bible made to please sub-groups and consumerist niche markets. Here her focus falls on the magazine-style Bible for teenage girls, Revolve, which has tips on cosmetics and boys inter alia where once might have been exegetical commentary. She also notes the Refuel edition ("a guyish" counterpart), the African-American Woman's Study Bible, the Promise Keeper's Bible for Men, and the Twelve-Step Bible. Mercifully, she omits bowdlerized (and rewritten) Bible versions for alternative lifestyles and the recent Green Bible with its preposterously green-inked verses having to do with the environment. One shudders to imagine what may yet await us in this vein—I would not be surprised to see advertised a Bible for middle-aged men in mid-life crisis, complete with Harley Davidson ads and tips on motorcycle maintenance in the margins.

The history of boutique Bible manufacture is certainly interesting, as well as possibly disturbing for thoughtful Christians. Ferrell's book, especially in its treatment of the modern period, is to be commended for its exposé of the shallowness and crass commercialism that has driven so much of modern Bible production. Unfortunately for evangelicals, it is also thus exposes the loss of biblical authority in our time to which, however counter-intuitively, evangelicals have contributed so much.

David Lyle Jeffrey is Distinguished Professor of Literature and the Humanities in the Honors College at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Christian History & Biography magazine.
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