By Bethany Jenkins, Christianity Today
My “current reads” make their home on my nightstand. Like residents of a high-rise apartment building in Manhattan, they are piled high and constantly in transition. Sometimes a book has a one-night stand, like Amy Julia Becker’s Small Talk, which I finished in just six hours. Other times one stays for a few months, like Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age, through which I’m still slogging.
No matter how long a book stays on my nightstand, though, it always ends up on my bookshelf—except for one, my Bible. It’s a “current read” with permanent residency. I don’t move it to my bookshelf because I don’t want its spine to be a mere reminder of once having been read. Of course, there have been times when I’ve reached past the Word of God to pick up the words of J. K. Rowling or David McCullough. But Rowling and McCullough are gathering dust on my bookshelf now, while my Bible is still on my nightstand.
The Bible: Faith and Work Edition
The constant and everyday relevance of the Bible is why David Kim, Executive Director of the Center for Faith & Work at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, and I—along with the editors of Christianity Today and Zondervan—are working on a new Bible. We want something with staying power.
The Bible: Faith and Work Edition will be a unique and engaging combination of doctrine, application, and community that can find its home not only on your nightstand at home, but also on your desktop at work. Its goal is to equip Christians to meaningfully engage various aspects of their work—even those we might not even think could be relevant—with a renewed sense of the power and relevance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.