The living Word in the digital era
The Bible has survived uncommonly difficult circumstances with a longevity that cannot be rivaled by any other text. While this might equate the religious text with inherently old, dusty or outdated qualities, history has shown that the Bible, instead, has a long track record as the instigator of technological advances. And history is repeating itself today.
For centuries, Christians and Bible readers have pioneered new technologies for sharing information and gaining knowledge. After the fall of the Roman empire in AD 395 the Church is credited with preserving not only something to read (religious texts) but the act of reading itself. In the same decade when the codex (a hand-transcribed manuscript style that resembles our books today) emerged, the rise of Christianity advanced the movement away from scrolls. Scrolls were thought to be more prestigious, but Christians preferred the more modern and convenient codex, eventually propelling it to popularity.
Over 1,000 years later in 1454, the Bible was the first book printed on a modern printing press. In the 150 years following, literacy soared. A new hunger for learning transformed Europe and eventually shaped the American experiment. Another 500 years later, in 2015, the Guinness Book of World Records estimated that 5 billion copies of the Bible existed in print. So, now what?
Get Our Latest News for FREE
A 2019 survey by Pew revealed that most Americans (65%) still prefer to read their books in print with a slim 7% reporting reading digital books only. The use of audiobooks did make some headway, with about one in every five Americans saying they were audiobook listeners.
By contrast, Bible readers are increasingly turning to digital technologies to engage with Scripture at high rates. Printed Bibles and other Christian books have experienced a marked downturn, according to Kristen McLean, Executive Director of Business Development at the NPD Group, a market research firm. And in the first six months of 2020, the YouVersion Bible app reported a 32% increase in unique daily users, compared to the same period in 2019. At the same time, they saw a 183% increase in Bible searches.
This trend has been greatly accelerated by COVID-19. HarperCollins Christian Publishing (HCCP), which owns and operates the popular BibleGateway website and app, saw a 150% increase in unique users of their direct-to-customer sites in March and April, according to Doug Lockhart, Senior Vice President for Marketing and New Initiatives at HCCP.
This June, our State of the Bible survey revealed that three quarters of Bible users had recently used the internet to read the Bible. Nearly the same proportion (74%) said they had searched for Bible verses online. Two-thirds of Bible readers (66%) said they had used a smartphone Bible app in the past year.
Additionally, the use of mobile Bible apps grew by an estimated 23.6 million American adults between January and June. To put that in perspective, if new U.S. users of mobile Bible apps all lived in the same city, it would be the fourth largest city in the world behind Tokyo, Delhi, and Shanghai, according to United Nations population estimates.
While COVID-19 has certainly disrupted Americans’ relationship with the Bible, it’s also possible that we’re beginning to see a new cultural trend emerge. While print Bible sales have fallen sharply in the U.S., digital platforms have recorded surges in adoption and interaction. Bible readers have increased their use of digital technologies to deepen their Scripture engagement.
This phenomenon hasn’t yet fully translated into the mainstream. We do not yet live in a world where physical books are obsolete. However, understanding these trends early on can help us – as business leaders, as entrepreneurs, as parents, and as Christians – to begin to imagine what that world will be like and the kind of role we want to play in it.
In particular, we have an opportunity in front of us to usher in a more equitable future.
Unfortunately, as in centuries past, women appear to be lagging behind men in transitioning to a more digital Scripture engagement experience. In the 16th century, though the Bible was becoming widely available in print, society itself was not in the habit of regularly educating all women to read, nor, culturally, liberating them to study Scripture and engage in the discourse of theology, philosophy or poetry.
In our 21st century, we’re still seeing significant differences between the sexes, especially in the use of audio Bible versions. Three out of five male Bible Users (60%) recalled listening to an audio version of the Bible in the past year, compared to fewer than half of women (46%). In fact, one of the biggest takeaways from the 2020 research overall was that women were more likely than men to become disengaged from Scripture during the course of the pandemic. This was a surprise considering that in a decade of State of the Bible survey research women have almost always read Scripture more frequently than men.
No doubt, this shift is related to the fact that women’s lives have been uniquely impacted by COVID-19, including a lack of childcare and job loss. Churches must recognize it’s the distinctive needs of their members, working to disciple men and women in ways that equitably empower them to engage with Scripture. Bible interaction technologies must be purposely built to invite women into the experience. There is precedent for this: Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook are majority female platforms, while LinkedIn, and Twitter are not.
It is likely that, once again, the Church will influence the future of our world. It will be up to today’s Christian leaders to think and act as innovative entrepreneurs, forging a new course for society.
John Farquhar Plake is American Bible Society's head of research.
