The Bestselling Reference Bible That Remade American Evangelicalism

The author, Daniel, is a young guy, so he misses a few things here, because he wasn't around at that time and because a lot of it is not so well documented for others to study.

Yes, much of what he says is true. I think what he misses here, is that much of the widespread adoption of Scofield Reference Bible, is because of printers themselves. I am talking from the 1950's to the 1980's. Churches were fast growing at this time and sweeping across the nation. People were entering churches and they wanted to order a Bible. We didn't have the internet. We didn't have Christian Bookstores. So where did you order your Bible? For many, it was the local church bookstore. Every church, that I could remember had a bookstore. And you could order a Bible. And not the flimsy Bibles you were used to growing up. No, these were leather bound, in lots of different hide types and colors. The church bookstore could offer you the Bible at a fairly good discount and you could even get your named embossed on it. You often could choose to buy a regular bible, or a really cool reference Bible. You could get access to all kinds of notes, maps and everything else. And so, all the people around me flocked to the Scofield Reference Bible that was being offered in the church bookstore, because, really, it was the only reference bible really out there. People didn't understand the theological implications of the notes. They just liked that they were getting a "serious" Bible. And as they read it, they became engrained in the theological positions in the Bible.

Whether this was true or not. I don't know, but it was what I saw all around me. Yes, the churches were preaching these theological positions, but the average consumer was buying it for other reasons.

It was none other than divine providence that tSRB came out during the earliest days of the fundamentalis-modernists controversy. Is it any surprise that fundamentalists (about the only people in North America during the 1st half of the 20th century who took the Bible seriously as the inspired word of God) took an interest in personal Bible study? Of course they were attracted to tSRB; it opened the door for practical Bible study on the lay level, not just with the notes but the cross-reference system and abridged concordance are invaluable tools for those without access to larger works of the same kind. The subject-index was also very helpful.

I spent much time as a young person tracing paths through the Scriptures, following the references. I did read the notes from time to time, but l never found them as valuable as the other tools that made reading and studying the Scripture text much easier.

I had a New Scofield Reference Bible growing up. I wasn't well versed in the alternatives to Dispensationalism, nor was I aware of some of the original quirks in Scofield that today's Dispensationalists would disavow. (My own Bible church wouldn't have gone along with those quirks.) But I was really helped by the cross references that let me trace an idea through relevant passages from the Old through the New Testaments.

I do wonder how much it contributed to young people's first sermons that involved a lot of basic cross referencing...

I was saved as an adult and the first study Bible I purchased was a
Thompson Chain-Reference Bible (1908). I grew up in an Old Scofield Bible Church but found his commentary problematic. The Thompson provided excellent cross references, meaningful topical studies, and historical background but without commentary. I did get some criticism from other pastors who warned me that "it wasn't dispensational".