Catholics include 46 books, and Protestants accept only 39. Most Bibles sold in the United States are Protestant, so shoppers need to look carefully if they want a different version. However, few Bibles contain all of the books. The most authoritative of these is probably the HarperCollins Study Bible. This edition was sponsored by the prestigious Society of Biblical Literature, an international group of 5,500 Bible scholars.
Many readers now prefer to expand their horizons and consider books beyond their own tradition.
According to new research by Zondervan, readers tend to get hooked on the Bible and wind up buying a whole collection of them. They range from illustrated Bible story books for preschoolers to the new Leadership Bible for mid-career adults. From 'thee' to 'you' Marketers also promote the virtues of their distinctive English translations, but the fact is that virtually all of the contemporary English versions are accurate and much easier to understand than the 1611 King James Version. That's mainly because it is popular with evangelical Protestants. The New Revised Standard Version, sponsored by the National Council of Churches, reflects the broadest scholarly consensus on the fine points of translating the ancient texts.