The Bible has become a very important book, ever since it was written, translated, and was copied so that it could be a way everybody could understand God and learn more about him.
As I have pointed out in the past, there is no such thing as "The Bible". Not only are there many different translations the change and reword much of the Western Canon, there are other Canons that contain quite different selections of books and ordering.
I think what you may be referring to is the "Holy Bible of the Western Canon". There we can see a fairly clear history where the Bible was either more or less accessible.
The first Bibles were mandated government grant book designated to be placed in the new churches to be built in the areas around the new capitol of Constantinople. There wasn't much in the mandate as to content or theology, but was an absolute requirement that they be beautiful and impressive.
For most of the history of Bible of the Western Canon, it was not accessible to the majority of worshipers. Costs to create a hand drawn copy were simply too high for the average person to manage and frankly, production times were so long that the supply was severely limited.
It was only after the invention of mechanical automated printing and the translations into the vernacular that the Bible became something that was distributed in any quantity or available to the general public.
By a lot of people, the bible is considered not important, just a fantasy.
Much of the Bible is fantasy.
So why was it so important to be translated, copied, and is found in every book store, library, etc? If it's not important, why go through all the trouble to have it in every country?
Marketing. The Bible is the primary marketing material of the Christian faith.
So now to questions.
The availability of most books is based on demand, however the Bible is different. Should it not be cast in comparison to advertising and commercials instead of trying to compare it to general literature?
Is not much of what you describe driven solely from the production end, Bibles being translated, printed, distributed by the source rather than on demand?
Is not the fact that they are so readily available for free an indicator of the value placed on the book by the consumer as well as the publisher?
Edited by jar, : hit submit instead of preview
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