The Bible gets a digital makeover for a new generation of readers

The Bible is increasingly going digital, thanks in part to a generation that doesn’t read books — even the Good Book.

Printed Bibles remain top sellers, but digital Bibles — like YouVersion — are gaining in popularity and usage.

A 15-year-old free app for smartphones and tablets, YouVersion has provided 742 million copies of its take on the Scriptures, according to the app’s maker, Life.Church — an Evangelical Covenant Church member with a significant online presence that was founded in 1996 in Oklahoma City.

This “year saw growth at higher rates than ever before as installs increased by more than 100 million devices,” YouVersion founder and CEO Bobby Gruenewald said in an email.

He said use of the Bible app jumped 20% in 2023 to “about 12 million people each day.”

Mr. Grunewald said YouVersion offers more than 3,000 Bible translations in more than 2,000 languages, allowing users to do side-by-side comparisons that a print Bible can’t offer. Audio versions are included, allowing people to listen to the Bible where reading isn’t possible, he added.

“Engaging with Scripture in these ways can give people a different perspective that helps them understand the Bible in new ways. For many in our community, YouVersion was their pathway to consistent Scripture engagement,” he said.

About 20 million print Bibles are sold in the U.S. each year, according to 2017 data by the marketing statistics firm Brandon Gaille. Although there’s no clearinghouse data on the number of digital Bibles sold or downloaded each year, a cursory perusal of the Apple iPhone App Store reveals dozens of offerings in a multitude of translations.

“I think digital is winning,” said Alister McGrath, emeritus Andreos Idreos professor of science and religion at the University of Oxford. “I’m not saying that makes it right. But nevertheless, the digital format is adapted to new ways of reading, traveling to the new generation who don’t read books.”

Mr. McGrath’s book “In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture” traces the history of one of the most popular and longest-lived Scripture translations. He said it’s unclear which format — print or digital — will dominate in five years, “but I just very much hope that we’re able to keep up with the trend wherever it takes us.”

The trend appears in church pews every Sunday. The Rev. Jeremiah Johnston reads from a printed Bible when he’s in the pulpit at Prestonwood Baptist Church, while congregants scroll through a digital version.

But Mr. Johnston, whose work at the 57,000-member megachurch in Plano, Texas, centers on apologetics and cultural engagement, isn’t opposed to digital versions of the world’s bestselling book. He said he embraces them not only for convenience but also as an antidote to the potentially harmful impacts of artificial intelligence.

“I think it’s vitally important that we have digital content because when you look at the rise of AI … we don’t want our people to go to Google instead of God’s word. We want them to go to God’s word,” said Mr. Johnston, who also teaches at the church’s 1,650-student academy.

Using verified Bible program such as Logos Bible Software allows users to determine an actual scholar created the content they’re reading: “This isn’t some bot or widget somewhere, trying to tell me what this passage means in Scripture,” he said.

Getting an accurate read on the Bible’s text is important to leaders such as Mr. Johnston during a time when engagement with the Bible — the interaction of believers with the text and not just commentaries or articles about its contents — is a growing concern.

In September 2022, Lifeway Research, an evangelical survey group affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, found Americans hold confusing attitudes about basic doctrines such as the Trinity and the nature of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit.

“I don’t think you can separate the lack of orthodox belief among Christians with the decline in church attendance that you’ve seen. I think one leads to another,” the Rev. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, said at the time.

Mr. Johnston of Prestonwood Baptist cited a 2009 study from the Center for Biblical Engagement in Lincoln, Nebraska, that said those who engage with the Bible’s text a minimum of four times a week will see “a dramatic effect on their lives.”

“My wife, a busy mom of five, she’s gonna engage with the Scriptures on her phone or iPad while she’s in the lineup waiting, being an Uber driver for our five kids,” the pastor said.

Even those tasked with studying and displaying the printed word concede digital Bibles are a growing, if not overwhelming, influence.

“We see that shift, and we’ve seen it, of course, across the board, including nonbiblical texts,” said Carlos Campo, incoming CEO at the Museum of the Bible. “We know that Bible readers are more traditional, and many of them, as traditionalists, will want to have that paper copy.”

And while Mr. Johnston applauds the rise of digital Scriptures, he hasn’t abandoned print outside of the pulpit. Next year, Bible publisher Thomas Nelson will release his “NKJV Peace of God Bible,” a daily reading with the New King James Version text that focuses on living in peace, which is mentioned nearly 600 times in Scripture.

As YouVersion’s Mr. Gruenewald said, “We’re passionate about the Bible, not the format.”