The notetaking and journaling Bible edition. Photo: Linda Nylind / The Guardian
In the past two years, Western media and analytical agencies have recorded an anomaly: at a time when the number of Christians in the UK have fallen below fifty percent for the first time, and in the USA the churches are put up for sale by the dozen, the number of copies of printed Bibles is breaking records from twenty years ago. What’s going on? Is it a genuine desire to study the Word of God, a fashion of beautiful books, or is it something else?
Let’s try to understand why young people in the West have started scribbling in the Holy Scriptures, and how it contrasts with Orthodox reverence.
Analytical data for 2024 and 2025 from Circana BookScan and reports by SPCK Group, the British publishing house, look like spiritual frontline reports.1
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In the USA, Bible sales jumped twenty-two percent and reached nineteen million copies.
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In the UK, the market for religious literature grew by a hundred and thirty-four percent, compared to the pre-pandemic period.2
This would seem reason to rejoice. But, if we look closely, we see a different picture. What drove sales for Gen Z buyers have been the Journaling Bibles—editions with large blank spaces. For the majority of young people, the Bible has turned to an art object. There are hundreds of photos and videos online; teenagers stick rhinestones on their Bibles, use watercolor to paint over pages, and turn psalms into collages. This is a hobby where the very process of coloring the pages might have become more important than keeping a focus on the Word of God.
In this colorful hobby lies hidden a grave danger characteristic of Protestant consciousness: to rely solely on your own understanding. In the absence of the foundation stone of Church tradition, such a search often leads nowhere. It’s the age-old fallacy: “I understand it the way I see it.” Rejection of patristic heritage once brought forth the thousands of currents in Protestantism, where everyone interprets the truth just as they please.
The Orthodox tradition has always warned us to avoid such willfulness. St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) warned:
“Do not dare to interpret the Gospel and the other books of Holy Scripture by yourself. Scripture was spoken by the holy Prophets and Apostles, spoken not arbitrarily, but by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). How is it not madness, then, to interpret it arbitrarily?” 3
It should be noted that among the buyers of Journaling Bibles we see those who actually do work on it. For them, wide margins aren’t canvasses for their drawings, but a place to perform meticulous work. They don’t draw flowers, but write down on sticker notes or empty margins the meanings of unknown words from dictionaries.
A thirst for authenticity
Realizing the weakness of their “own opinions,” many young people in the West are embarking on a search for external support. They don’t want to simply draw—they are eager to listen. Another powerful catalyst behind booming Bible sales were podcasts. The most successful of them has been “The Bible in a Year” by a Catholic priest Mike Schmitz who, according to media reports, is fast approaching a billion downloads.4 He is hardly the only presenter, but it was his project that made it clear, that young people are craving structure and competent interpretation.
According to the American Bible Society, about forty-nine percent of young people believe in the “supreme power,” but they distrust the obsolete religious institutions in their environment.5 For them, the printed Bible and the voice of a commentator in headphones is an attempt to find something “real” in the virtual world.
If someone sincerely seeks the Truth, God will surely reveal Himself to him
Growth of Bible sales in the West is a symptom of a great thirst. It is the sign that spiritual hunger cannot be satisfied by any visible sweetness of the world. As Orthodox Christians, we have a clear path—the treasury of patristic interpretations. For the youth in the West, though, this “wandering in the fog” with the Book in hand has become a chance to choose the right way.
If a person sincerely seeks the Truth, and is ready to reject the self-deception of “personal understanding,” God will surely reveal Himself to him. It’s impossible for the seeker of Christ not to find Him. It is probable that through this challenging way, hearing the voice of a priest in your headphones or working thoughtfully with the text on the margins, someone will truly hear the holy fathers for the first time and he will be surprised to discover himself on this ancient road called Orthodoxy. After all, the Word of God is “alive and effective,” capable of breaking through any wall of fading fashions and delusions!
