Writer james chapman created a list of the most read books in the world based on the number of copies each book sold over the last 50 years he found. However, many more copies have been given away for free, meaning the actual number of bibles in circulation is unknown. The bible has sold billions of copies and is the best selling book of all time. Christian books still dominate alltime bestsellers lists. All my life ive been told the best selling book in the world is the bible. More than 100 million new bibles, reflecting numerous translations, are sold or given away freely every year. Thank you for helping us maintain cnet s great community.
In the world, there are basically over hundreds of different translations of the bible to english language, and. Which are the most popular best selling bible translations in 2018, you must wonder. Every day approximately 60,000 people around the world rely on bible. Holy father, keep them in your name, the name which you have given me, that they may be one even as we are. As you can see from the graphic below created by designer jared fanning, the bible leads the countdown by a large margin.
Weve all wondered at some pointout of 66 different books, there have to be a few that resonate with more people than others, right yep. King james version of the bible is the true word of god that we read, understand, apply in our daily lives as we await his coming to take us to eternal life. According to guinness world records as of 1995, the bible is the best selling book of all time, with an estimated 5 billion copies sold and distributed. This book holds the records for any natural history, and this is the one of the most expensive book in the world. Bibles for the world taking gods word to people of all. List of most expensive books and manuscripts wikipedia. It does just that in a most pleasant, friendly manner. Other than the bible, which is the far and away the bestselling christian book of all time with sales in the billions, here is my list for your consideration. He found that the bible far outsold any other book, with a whopping 3.
The bible is easily one of the bestselling books of all time, but exact sales numbers. The worlds mostpopular bible will undergo its first revision in 25 years, modernizing the language in some sections and promising to reopen a contentious debate about changing gender terms in. The kind folks at shared their stats with me on the top 10 mostaccessed books of the bible. Over 100 million bibles are sold or given away for free every year in the world, according to the economist. Showing the strength of the childrens book market, 24 of the top 100 books overall for 2016 were childrens titles. Shortly after the completion of the saint johns bible, however, saint johns began producing 360 copies of the heritage edition. Best selling book in the world proud of every wrinkle. With nine books, sarah young had the most number of titles in the top 100. This list does not preach at all, but is simply a brief examination of the stories from the bible that make it a well known and talkedabout book in world literature. With all those caveats in mind and not including ebook sales, here are. Hinduism, buddhism, confucianism, taoism, zoroastrianism, judeochristianity and islam.
It addresses inward, private thoughts and feelings, as well as outward, publicly expressed words and actions. The bible is the world s best selling book, having sold more than five billion copies. Translations exist in more than 2,000 languages and dialects. The book of psalms easily wins, probably because it is both the longest book in the bible 150 chapters and it covers every human emotion and every circumstance in life. The bible, which ranks as the worlds mostread book, has sold 3. The bible in world history says on the front cover that it puts scripture into a global context. Stephen kings the stand, dan browns the da vinci code and angels.
The alltime most popular books in the world revealed. The four hundredth anniversary of the printing of the first english bible is an event of great significance. Yes, the bible is still the best seller in the world and it is the only book inspired by god 2peter 1. I love that the bible in world history isnt intimidating at all. Although it is impossible to obtain exact figures, there is little doubt that the bible is the worlds bestselling and most widely distributed book. If you would like to learn more about the bible and its author, jehovah god, i highly encourage you to visit. This week on interfaith voices, i had a great conversation with elaine pagels, professor of religion at princeton university and author of a new book on what is certainly the most controversial. The best selling books in the world famous books on sale in. It was written by several authors inspired by the holy spirit over a period of time.
For the record, the excluded books have sold an estimated hundreds of millions of copies each several billion, in the bibles case and would have taken most of the top positions on the list. A survey by the bible society concluded that around 2. Because religious texts are often translated into many foreign languages and distributed widely by churches, however, precise figures are hard to come by. It is said to be the most printed book in the history of the world, with more than one billion copies in print. Fortythree christian schools, a college and seminary, and a fullservice christian hospital serve thousands of families in towns and villages throughout manipur state in northeast india. For the record, the excluded books have sold an estimated hundreds of millions of copies each several billion, in the bible s case and would have taken most of the top positions on the list. The third group considered it as the mostprinted and mostdistributed book.
A bible also owns the record for least amount of sales per year a translation of the new testament into coptic has never sold more than 2 copies in any year since 1791. I hope the below estimations show that the quran is in fact the most read book. Hi all, here is my opinion based on facts and partly on assumptions. Bestselling books are ranked by number of copies sold, not my personal ratings. The worlds most expensive inexpensive bible april 14, 2010 tags.
Is the bible still the bestselling book in the world. The most beautiful bibles covers examples from every epoch of the middle ages, presenting the bible as it was visualized in both theological and. Abebooks, rare books books bibles our friend, maurice earp, bookslinger at blackwell rare books in the u. The bible tops the list of the most read books in the world. According to guinness world records as of 1995, the bible is the bestselling book of all time, with an estimated 5 billion copies sold and distributed. The bible speaks today commentary series focuses on what christians can learn from the old testament, rather than merely commenting on academic theories.
It is the most widely known book in the englishspeaking world. Evangelicals assert, without any evidence, that the bible is different from any other book ever written a supernatural book penned or spoken into existence by god himself. Turns out that some books of the bible get a lot more attention than others. Its estimated to have sold around 6 billion copies worldwide precise figures are nearly impossible to conclude, for. Read our daily devotional, find answers to frequently asked questions, or sign up for our enewsletter. Guinness world records estimates that over five billion copies of the bible have been sold, making it the bestselling book of all time. Top ten most expensive books of the world information of.
The bible has been translated into 349 languages, and a survey conducted by the bible society concluded that between 1815 and 1975, around 2. Chapman created the list by examining how many individual copies of the books had been printed and sold over the last 50 years. The theologians teach the word ministry saying that the first 7 chapters in the book of genesis, the book of job, and the crossing of the red sea is a myth the book of job is the oldest book written by job himself, in arabic and was later translated into hebrew by moses. Written largely by conservative evangelicals with realworld preaching and pastoral experience, the series often acts as a collection of expository sermonsrich with practical implications. Among those that have dropped off since the poll was last conducted in 2008. Net bible study suite the net bible study suite allows you to read and study gods word for free anywhere. Eightinten muslims 83% say the quran is the word of god, according to the 2014 survey. Although it is impossible to obtain exact figures, there is little doubt that the bible is the world s best selling and most widely distributed book. First of all everything youve said about the bible is exactly the same but for the quran. Similarly, many notable book series that sold very widely are poorly documented or consist of multiple subseries. There is no myth in bible, the best book in the world. According to the march 2007 edition of time, the bible has done more to shape literature, history, entertainment, and culture than any.
Note, however, that the deathly hallows, the final book in the series, has sold 65 million copies, so it seems that. What was happening outside bible lands during the time of the patriarchs, jewish kingdoms, the prophets, jesus ministry, and the early church. Additionally, since the bible is sold worldwide, calculating exact numbers becomes tricky. In addition, indepth study tools are provided on the site with access to commentaries, encyclopedias, dictionaries. The bible of the world is similar to a readers digest condensed book and it containes scriptures from. The worlds most expensive inexpensive bible book patrol. One of the worlds most popular books united church of god. Another interesting thing is that while harry potter and the philosophers stone is there with 107 million copies sold, the second book in the series only has 60 million copies sold, so it seems that about 40% of people are not continuing on with the series after book one. This article discusses the world s best selling books.
History of the bible timeline from creation to today. The most sold, read, bought, published, given away, believed, translated, quoted, and accurate book the world has ever experienced. Since the invention of the printing press in mid1400s, the holy bible has been the most printed book in all of world history, at an estimated 6 billion copies. Is bible the worlds bestselling or mostread or most. Far fewer jews 37% say they view the torah as the word of god. It is clearly one of the most controversial books in modern times though perhaps not so much for its content as the actions of some who interpret it. Blue letter bible is a free, searchable online bible program providing access to many different bible translations including. According to christians, the bible is the word of god. The bible, with an estimated over 6 billion copies sold publishers say there is no way to track exact copies sold in its lifetime, is by far the bestselling and most translated book in the world. The bible has been a massive influence on literature and history, especially in the western world, where the gutenberg bible was the first book printed using movable type. The 21 bestselling books of all time howstuffworks. The bible is often said to be the worlds best sold book but search the best seller lists and you wont find it anywhere, top to bottom.
Researcher james chapman has compiled this look at the top 10 most read books in the world. Bibles for the world has extensive ministry outreaches in india, the homeland of founders rochunga and mawii pudaite. Consider all the books ever written, from the great library in egypt to the library of congress in washington, dc. With all those caveats in mind and not including e book sales, here are the 21 bestselling books of all time, as far as we can tell. The ministry has reached more than 200 million people with copies of gods word including scripture portions, new testaments and full bibles in 123 nations across the globe. History in school was such a heavy subject and i did poorly. The two most widely published books in the world april. Today the bible is especially popular wherever english is spoken. The huffington post article actually named 16 books that have sold the most copies worldwide, noting that the bible is the top seller in the world. This pocketsized, fully illustrated reference breaks biblical and early church history into eight major time periodsfrom creation to the tower of babel through anno domini, the years from. Many devout christians are quick to assert that the holy bible is the worlds bestselling book, for all time. The bible is the most widely distributed and bestselling book in the world. They claim that because a great number of people purchased the bible, it, therefore, has lots of.
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