Gender-Neutral TNIV No Longer Among 10 Best-Selling Bibles

In 2005, Zondervan launched its gender-neutral version of the NIV Bible-Today's New International Version (TNIV)-with a massive advertising campaign touting the new translation as the Bible that would make God's Word more accessible to Gen X and Gen Next.

More than three years later, the evangelical publishing giant faces an inescapable fact regarding the controversial TNIV: Christians, young and otherwise, aren't buying it.

While the NIV perennially ranks atop Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) sales lists, the TNIV is struggling to find an audience among evangelicals as a viable Bible translation. According to CBA's official figures, the TNIV dropped to 10^th in unit sales last December, and fell out of the top ten translations according to the February sales figures.

By comparison, Crossway's English Standard Version (ESV), a word-for-word translation which was published in 2001, is fourth in total units sold, trailing only the NIV, New King James and King James translations. See the chart below for February numbers.

Zondervan has aggressively marketed the TNIV as an updated version of the NIV-updated because of its use of "inclusive language." Many words referring to the male gender are rendered "gender neutral"-"they" instead of "he," "parent" instead of "father," "brothers and sisters" instead of "brothers," and so on.

Zondervan's publication of the gender-neutral version sparked no small controversy among evangelicals.

Wayne Grudem, Vern Poythress, and a host of other evangelical scholars voiced serious concerns over the gender-neutral approach to Bible translation. Several analyzed the TNIV in significant depth and showed numerous places where the use of culturally correct pronouns significantly alter the meaning of the text.  CBMW devoted the Fall 2005 issue of The Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood to an examination of the TNIV.  

While sales have not met company expectations, Paul Caminiti, vice president and publisher of Bibles for Zondervan, said he remains optimistic about the future of the TNIV.

"Overall, we are optimistic about its future growth, but are not content with the current level of awareness and adoption," he told Christian Retailing. "Given our experience with the NIV, we knew from the very beginning that our aggressive goals for the TNIV would require an enduring vision and commitment to a long-term strategy."

Retailers are not as optimistic.

Doug Cunningham, manager of New Creation in Charlotte, N.C., told Christian Retailing that sales of the gender-inclusive NIV have been "pretty unimpressive."

"We hardly even stock that version any longer, having sent most of them back and declining to bring in most of the newer (versions of the TNIV) simply based on past sales history of the translation," he said.

Similarly, Ruth Ann Savage, co-owner of Jack's Religious Gift Shop in Salisbury, Md., said her store sells very few copies of the TNIV.

In conjunction with televangelist Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral, Zondervan will release the TNIV Power for Life Bible in May, the first such licensing of the new translation to an outside publisher. Caminiti said he hopes for similar opportunities for the TNIV with other publishers "who complement Zondervan's publishing strategies and initiatives."

(Unit Sales in U.S. and Canada Christian Retail Stores)

1. New International Version (various publishers)
2. King James Version (various)
3. New King James Version (various)
4. English Standard Version (Crossway)
5. New Living Translation (Tyndale)
6. Reina Valera 1960 (various)
7. Holman Christian Standard Bible (B&H)
8. The Message (Eugene Peterson, NavPress)
9. New American Standard Bible update (various)
10. International Children's Bible (Thomas Nelson)