ESV Preaching Bible in TruTone over Board

Jan 11

There’s a lot to like about this more affordable option of one of Crossway’s popular editions.

Later this month Crossway is releasing a new verse-by-verse edition of their ESV Preaching Bible in goatskin. I will be doing a review of that Bible soon, but in the meantime I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the original ESV Preaching Bible. Lo and behold (do people still say that?), when I looked it up on Crossway’s website, I noticed that they released a new TruTone over Board edition last fall while I was in Oxford. It looked pretty great online, and it was 75% less expensive than the goatskin edition, so I decided to review it.

As you’ll read below, I really like this Bible. It is well designed, enjoyable to read, and a great value.

ESV Preaching Bible in TruTone Over Board – Overview

The main difference between this edition of the Preaching Bible and the original goatskin edition is obviously the cover. TruTone is a soft, flexible, synthetic material that Crossway has used for years. You usually see it in their more affordable softcover editions (often the ones with creative designs are made with TruTone), which means that it’s less expensive to produce. In more recent years, Crossway has wrapped TruTone over hardcover (“board”) Bibles, and the results are pretty cool.*

Aesthetically, the brown TruTone has a marbled look and smooth texture that reminds me of calfskin leather, but it doesn’t feel like leather to the touch. It’s more synthetic feeling than that. I like that they included raised hubs on the spine, and the gold lettering has a very classic feel to it. You also get a couple of 1/4” ribbons and some gold art gilding on the page edges.

The text block in the TruTone over Board edition of the ESV Preaching Bible is identical to the original other than the fact that it’s page corners are square instead of rounded. It’s a substantial Bible, measuring 6.25” wide, 9.125” tall, and 1.75” thick. The typesetting presents the main text in a single column, with a line-matched 10pt font on 36 GSM paper. I remember the first time I saw an ESV Preaching Bible in person (at a preaching conference). I loved the look and feel of the text on the page. It’s very appealing to my eye.

Keep scrolling to read more about some of the ESV Preaching Bible’s more unique features.

FEATURES
• 10pt type size
• 6.25” x 9.125” trim size
• 1.75” thick
• 36 GSM paper
• Line matching
• Paste-off liner
• Smyth-sewn binding
• Two 1/4” ribbon markers
• Raised spine hubs
• Single Column layout
• Wide Margins
• Full Color maps
• Enlarged and bolded verse numbers surrounded by extra space to easily locate verses on the page
• Two unique sets of cross-references

*Other editions that come in TruTone over Board include the ESV Bible with Creeds and Confessions, The Psalms, and the ESV Single Column Journaling Bible.

Designed for Preaching

Before I talk about why this Bible works so well for preaching, please know that you do NOT have to be a preacher to use the ESV Preaching Bible. This Bible has a lot of great features, and if you like what you see, don’t let its name deter you from getting one. It doesn’t say “Preaching Bible” all over it, so you won’t have to feel self-conscious when you use it.

That said, this Bible was designed with preachers in mind. Crossway got input from over 1,000 preachers when they originally designed the ESV Preaching Bible, and as someone who has done my fair share of preaching, I certainly think that this Bible works very well for that purpose.

One of the features designed with preaching in mind is the verse numbers, which are slightly larger, bolder, and surrounded by more space than verse numbers in Crossway’s other editions. This is not a feature that leaps from the page (aka: distracting), but it does work pretty well. We’ve all been listening to a sermon when the preacher lost his or her place. These verse numbers are designed to help that happen less often.

Another feature is the cross-references. The ESV Preaching Bible does not include a full set of cross-references. There are none in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament you get two different kinds: (1) direct quotations from the Old Testament (indirect quotations and allusions are not included), and (2) parallel passages in the four Gospels. I think the idea here is that you don’t need a bunch of cross-references on the page when you’re preaching, but the ones that are included are those that will most likely be useful for your sermon.

Lastly, in the back of the ESV Preaching Bible you get some maps (why not?), but not a concordance. Again, you’re probably not going to jump back to the concordance in the middle of your sermon, so leaving it out makes this Bible slightly more portable and efficient.

Less is More

I like the ESV Preaching Bible, and I’m very pleased with this TruTone over Board edition. It looks nice, and the price is great (look below for links to where you can purchase one). You may want to consider the more premium goatskin edition if you want an heirloom Bible or if you hold the Bible in your hand when you preach. But if you use a pulpit, podium, or tabletop, I think this TruTone over Board edition makes a lot of sense.

Remember… verse-by-verse edition of the ESV Preaching Bible comes out soon. So check back to see a review of that one as well!

Bottom line:
The ESV Preaching Bible in TruTone over Board is an affordable Bible that looks lovely and has several unique features that make it an excellent option for those who preach from the English Standard Version.