So some estimates say that quran is the most read book of all time with a whopping 3. Shop our wide selection of bibles in translations including kjv, niv, nkjv, esv, and more. The theme of death and the afterlife was one of the most prominent ones in the texts. The new testament chronicles the life and ministry of jesus, the growth and impact of the early church. Harper lees go set a watchman sold more than a million copies in its first. Writer james chapman created a list of the most read books in the world based on the number of. Exact print figures for these and other books may also be missing or unreliable since these kinds of books may be produced by many different and unrelated. List of literary works by number of translations wikipedia. Flag this question question 2 4 pts which of the following is not a postulate in the elements. The reader should consider this book a field guide for christian thought, and the thought that sprung up in response and protest to christianity. As a theology and bible major i had a tentative list in my mind of books that i thought should be on the list. There is early documentation showing that 200 copies of the bible were scheduled to be printed on cotton linen paper and 30 copies on velum animal skin the actual number of copies made is unknown. Stockbyte getty images scholars can debate endlessly over which book is the best of all time, but finding out which ones have enjoyed the most commercial success should be.
It has been translated into several languages and distributed all over the world. Top 10 gospels you wont find in the bible listverse. Unsurprisingly, the most popular book of all time has an interesting history. The most important book that we print is, of course, the bible. No matter what religion you practice im not a catholic by the way, guttenbergs edition of the bible is the most influential book ever, after all it was the first printed book in the world, and that has made all the difference. This volume walks kids through the 4 new testament gospels matthew, mark, luke, and john over the course of a year. Psalm 1 niv book i psalms 141 blessed is the bible.
For the most part the list as included in the book. Buying these books is an invaluable investment for every christian. The book was printed by johannes gutenberg, who invented the printing press and started the printing revolution, around 1450 1455. The bible, quran, and quotations from chairman mao are believed to have more than. The most popular book of all time christian universities. The book was likely written in the first or second century, but it was lost throughout most of history.
The most widely printed book in history is the christian bible. This is a list of literary works including novels, plays, series, collections of poems or short stories, and essays and other forms of literary nonfiction sorted by the. The 21 bestselling books of all time howstuffworks. It was rediscovered by accident in 1945 by peasants in egypt. This article discusses the worlds bestselling books. The bible and quotations from chairman mao still vie for the top spot, with more than 6 billion published copies each by noel l.
The bible was and still remains the most published and commonly owned book in the world. Published in 1611, the king james bible spread quickly throughout europe. The new testament is a collection of 27 books, usually placed after the old testament in most christian bibles. The quran is also widely reported to be one of the most printed and distributed books worldwide, with billions of copies believed to be in. The link of your book along with its translated number is here. Weve taken a look at the shortest books in the bible, but what about the longest book in the bible if youd asked me about it in sunday school, my answer would have been a quick, confident psalms. The bible still remains at the top as the most read book in the world. The 2010 edition of the catalogue is the worlds third most printed publication next to the bible and harry potter. The religious books like quran and bible comes in first two spots as it is mandatory to. Read about the most popular books in history at howstuffworks. In the september the huffington post published an article by alexander carr listing the 15 top. Originally written in biblical languages of hebrew, aramaic, and greek, the bible has been translated into 531 languages as of 2014. The bible is the most read and sold book in the history of the world, with an estimated sale amount of 100 million copies annually its not surprising that this text received the number 1 spot on this list. Therefore, these books, along with quotations from mao zedong which has the same issues with computing.
The 20 most translated texts in history ingco international. Genesis, written by moses, is the first book, while revelation, written by john the apostle, is the last book. Please be aware that printed books or their electronic form are much more reliable than the information found on the internet. Apart from being the most translated book in the world, the bible also holds the record for being the most read and bought book to date. The bible tops the list of the most read books in the world. The nlt filament bible combines a beautifully printed compact bible presented in a single column text format with the informationrich capability of the filament app. Question 1 4 pts besides the bible, what is the most widely printed book in european history. The top 10 most read books in the world list challenges. Writer james chapman created a list of the most read books in the world based on the number of copies each book sold over the last 50 years.
Since then, it has been the fascination of countless researchers. The oldest book in the bible is, unsurprisingly, found in the old testament. What is the most published book in the world answers. The gospel of thomas is the most wellknown gospel not found in the bible. This page provides lists of bestselling individual books and book series to date and in any. As you can see from the graphic below created by designer jared fanning, the bible leads the countdown by a large margin.
It is clearly one of the most controversial books in modern times though perhaps not so much for its content as the actions of some who interpret it. Regardless of what you think of all the entries, if our want to understand the world around you and the people in it, reading these books cover to cover would be a good start. Researcher james chapman has compiled this look at the top 10 most read books in the world. This list does not preach at all, but is simply a brief examination of the stories from the bible that make it a well known and talkedabout book in world literature. As with anything written about the bible, the content must be weighed against the scripture itself. Turns out that some books of the bible get a lot more attention than others. Aside from the bible, with 475 translations for the whole bible and 112 translations for the quran, the most translated literary works are the wellknown classics, old and new. Additionally, these books have often been printed by a wide range of. Because of the wealth of resources devoted to the project, it was the most faithful and scholarly translation to date. The bible is the holy scripture of the christian religion, purporting to tell the history of the earth from its earliest creation to the spread of christianity in the first century a. A survey by the bible society concluded that around 2.
I was a little disappointed at times because i thought the discussion on some of the books should be a little longer. Following up his popular book exploring the bible, a plan for children ages 612 to read through the whole bible, david murray has written a new reading plan for children that focuses on jesus christ. As far back as 1966 the whole bible had appeared in 240 languages and dialects, and one or more of its books appeared in 739. Chapman created the list by examining how many individual copies of the books had been printed and sold over the last 50 years. Last time it was like 33% christian the most popular but what is it now. From what we know of it, it was made up of several texts, written on papyrus and objects. The kind folks at shared their stats with me on the top 10 most accessed books of the bible.
He found that the bible far outsold any other book, with a whopping 3. The alltime most popular books in the world revealed. The number seven is also the most common in biblical prophecy, occurring 42 times in daniel and revelation alone. The bible is a collection of ancient religious texts and is considered to be the word of god in both christianity and judaism. The complete bible has been translated into more than 400 languages, and portions of it have been translated into over 2,000 languages and dialects. But martin roth wrote an article in 2002 where he was pretty sure that ikea was close to beating the bible in regard of worldwide distribution and in a 2005 update he estimated that ikea had actually overtaken the bible. Since 1961, jehovahs witnesses have translated and published the complete new world translation of the holy scriptures in one volume. The bible is actually two compilations put together at separate times. Bibles for study, worship, outreach, reading, journaling, and devotion. There are several version of the bible, but in general, it is estimated that it has sold more than five billion copies. The third highest selling print is quotations from chairman mao tsetung, a book. Weve all wondered at some pointout of 66 different books, there have to be a few that resonate with more people than others, right yep. Beside the bible is an attempt to identify the 100 most important books that christians should read, other than the bible.
Another unique and related fact is that the bible was the first major book ever to be printed, on gutenbergs press. The bible is easily one of the bestselling books of all time, but exact sales numbers are hard to nail down. Book i psalms 141 blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. Unfortunately, the book of the dead didnt reach us in its entirety.
The word bible comes from the greek word biblia meaning books. Distilling 2,000 years of faith into a mere one hundred books is a high bar. I have often heard that the most popular book is the bible, but it seems to me that, for example, classical indian books as the mahabharata or the chinese four books and five classics may be more popular. Also, does anyone have an update of the percentage of the religions in the world. The top 10 most read books in the world show list info. I figured this because the book has 150 psalms, and the runnerup in chapter count would have been isaiah, with a meager 66 chaptersthats less than half of what psalms has. Most christians would likely predict that genesis was the oldest book in the bible given that it details the creation. In 1942, the first complete bible rolled off our presses. The alltime most popular books in the world revealed stylist. The bible and quotations from chairman mao still vie for the top spot, with.
The bible is the worlds bestselling book, having sold more than five billion copies. Books of the bible list order complete new and old testament. By 20, we had produced more than 184 million copies of this bible in 121 languages. The good thing is that most popular books are translated into other languages, to increase their readership and make more readers appreciate them across continents. Inspired by the huffington posts attempt to list the top 15 bestselling books of all time, we offer a humble revision, expanding the list to 25 total. There are more and more people becoming christians all over the world, especially in antichristian nations like iraq, iran. Here are five books that are not included in the bible that every christian should read. Many christians believe there is one bible, but biblical canon has changed repeatedly over the centuries. What is the second best selling book of all time after the bible. The name refers to the new covenant or promise between god and humanity through the death and resurrection of jesus christ. The prince of bible numbers, it is used 562 times, including its derivatives e. The new testament is the addition made by christians to include. Since the invention of the printing press in mid1400s, the holy bible has been the most printed book in all of world history, at an estimated 6 billion copies. Although it is impossible to obtain exact figures, there is little doubt that the bible is the worlds bestselling and most widely distributed book.
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