Published: December 4, 2024

What Growing Bible Purchases Say About Our World

By a Movieguide® contributor

Bible purchases are skyrocketing, and that’s something to be excited about.

Through October of this year, Bible sales were up 22% compared to the same period last year. This figure is even more astonishing when compared to other book sales which only increased by 1%. The Wall Street Journal “found that sales of Bibles increased from 9.7 million in 2019 to 14.2 million in 2023. In the first 10 months of 2024, 13.7 million copies were sold, with still two months to go,” according to thread of faith.

Although some leaders in the Christian publishing industry believe this increase is due to the growing anxiety people are feeling, it is encouraging to see that people want to find peace and hope in God.

“People are suffering from anxiety themselves or worrying about their children and grandchildren. It’s linked to artificial intelligence, to election cycles…and it all feeds a desire for assurance that everything will be okay,” Jeff Crosby, president of Evangelical Christian Publishers, said of the sudden increase in sales.

Amy Simpson of Tyndale House Publishers “has seen an increase in engagement with the Bible, particularly among Gen Zers and college students.”

“You have a generation that wants to find things that are more solid,” she says. said.

LEARN MORE: THE BIBLE TRANSFORMS GENERATION Z

This interest in faith and the Bible is not necessarily a surprise. Barna previously reported that since the pandemic, people are more open to faith and hearing about God.

“Spiritual openness is widespread today. Barna’s data shows that 77 percent of American adults believe in God or a higher power, 74 percent would like to grow spiritually, and 44 percent are more open to God today than they were before the pandemic. , the group reported.

Barna also mentioned that even those not yet committed to Christianity still believe the Bible to be true: “Along with a general warmth toward God and Jesus, spiritually open non-Christians have a perhaps unexpected respect for Scriptures. They tend to agree that the Christian Bible is both divinely inspired and completely accurate.