"Will the digital Scriptures speed the decline of family spirituality once fostered by family Bibles?"

This is obtuse. A physical Bible—ink, paper, leather, glue—is not magic. It is merely a vehicle by which God’s Words can be communicated. It is the words that are precious, not the physical book. The fact that there is now a multiplicity of ways those words can be delivered beyond just a physical book should be a cause of great rejoicing. Praise God for the Kindle, iPad, Nook, smart phone, and the publishers of Bible software!

I’m glad someone else said it first so I can just say “Ditto Bro. Arms”.

Somewhere along the line I was willed a very large 19th century family Bible. It looks about like the image below (which I just grabbed off Ebay)

About 10 years ago my Aunt died and she willed me another one of these. It created quite a stir in our family (siblings and Mother) about it really wasn’t fair that Jimmy had 2 of these. I sent one of them off to a sibling and that resolved the issue.

The one I have retained:

• Is dusty … smelly …. very fragile and not all that attractive
  
• But it is informative: All the birth / death / marriage records meticulously recorded with elegant handwriting.
  

When K and I gather around “the family Bible” she has her ESV Study Bible open and I have my own open. Many times in the “difficult to pronounce” sections we both have MacBooks open, she http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Network_Computing] VCN’s into mine and we have the ESV read to us. Sometimes using this same techique we will compare translations using http://www.biblegateway.com/ biblegateway.com .

In response to:

Will this digital revolution cement the decline of family spirituality that was once fostered by the family Bible?

I suggest: Nope!

Did the writer not consider the early church if not much of its history? They in great majority did not hv personal/family copies but managed robust and historical spirituality