Percentage of Profit to Charity : Bible Publishers Turning Good Word Into Action

Oxford and Cambridge University presses have taken the usual task of Bible publishing a step further.

The joint publishers of the Revised English Bible, an updated version of the 20-year-old New English Bible, have translated the spirit of the texts into action by giving a percentage of the profits to contemporary charities that feed the poor, house the homeless and comfort the sick.

Marketing Strategy

The nationwide introduction of the Bible will be accompanied by a marketing strategy tagged the REB Charity Program that will donate 50 cents for each Bible purchased to one of six charities indicated on a card found within each copy.

In its various formats and editions, copies of the Bible range in price from $19.95 to $50. Purchasers can simply drop the card into the mail if they purchase one of the Bibles before Jan. 31, 1990, when the charity program ends.

“We took Matthew 25:35-36 (‘For when I was hungry, you gave me food’) and we tried to translate that into modern terms, into issues that confront people daily,” said David Perkins, head of Oxford’s Bible division advertising and promotion department.

If the 150,000 first printing sells out by Jan. 31, that could mean up to $75,000 will be shared among Prison Fellowship Ministries; Habitat for Humanity, International; AIDS National Interfaith Network; Reading Is Fundamental; Save the Children, and Food for the Hungry Inc.

The original New English Bible was hailed by scholars and general readers alike when it was published in 1970. It was a best seller for months.

Latest Biblical Scholarship

The Revised English Bible is a verse-by-verse review and update of the Greek and Aramaic texts by a committee of British scholars in light of the latest biblical scholarship. The scholars then passed on their efforts to a group of distinguished writers and poets who read the translations with an ear for the music of the language and passed back their suggestions.

Both Bibles were commissioned by a multidenominational committee of religious leaders representing the major Protestant and Roman Catholic churches in Britain, Scotland and Ireland.