Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 124:494 (Apr 1967)
Article: The New Scofield Reference Bible
Author: E. Schuyler English

---

BSac 124:494 (Apr 67) p. 125

The New Scofield Reference Bible

E. Schuyler English

[E. Schuyler English, Editor, The New Scofield Reference Bible.]

When any edition of the Bible sells more than 3,000,000 copies, it is remarkable. When such an edition of the Bible carries annotations, it is phenomenal. And when that annotated Bible has helped thousands upon thousands of men and women to obtain a better understanding of the Scriptures and develops within them a deeper love for God, it is almost a miracle. This is the record of the Scofield Reference Bible, which has far outsold any edition of annotated Scriptures ever published and has been used by the Holy Spirit as a master key to unlock for multitudes the treasures of God’s Holy Word.

Background of the New Edition

First published in 1909, the Scofield Bible was issued in a second edition in 1917 after its editor, Dr. C. I. Scofield, had made some changes and introduced additional helps. This is the edition that most present-day readers of the Scofield Bible know. Its title page carries the legend: “New and Improved Edition.”

In the last half-century, although God’s Word has not altered, additional light has been thrown upon the Scriptures by textual criticism, discoveries in the field of archeology, and developments of world-wide significance in the area of Bible prophecy. Furthermore, the English language has undergone many changes. Thus the Oxford University Press, publisher of the Scofield Reference Bible since its inception, not being slothful in business, decided that a revision of its famed

BSac 124:494 (Apr 67) p. 126

annotated Bible was due. In 1954 a committee of nine men1 was appointed to undertake the task and now, the work being completed, The New Scofield Reference Bible is scheduled for publication soon,2 fifty years from the date of the last edition.

Neither the publisher nor the committee of revision had any intention at any time of altering Scofield’s theological position or system of interpretation, e.g., the plenary inspiration and inerrancy of the Scriptures, the premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth, the pretribulation rapture of the church, and that God has dealt with men in different ways during different dispensations in which man has been responsible as to his obedience to Him. An examination of the names of those who compose the editorial board, and of the institutions with which they are affiliated, should attest the fact of their sympathy with Scofield’s theology. Scripture truth was at all times the criterion in the revision of the new edition, but it was always borne in mi...

visitor : : uid: ()