Zondervan is an international

Christian media Christian media, sometimes referred to as inspirational, faith and family, or simply Christian, is a cross-media genre that features a Christian message or moral. Several creative studios and mass media formats are considered to be aspects of ...

and publishing company located in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is th ...

. Zondervan is a founding member of the

Evangelical Christian Publishers Association The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) is an international non-profit trade association whose member companies are involved in the publishing and distribution of Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere t ...

(ECPA). They are a part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc. and has multiple imprints including Zondervan Academic, Zonderkidz, Blink, and Editorial Vida. Zondervan is the commercial rights holder for the

New International Version The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The ''NIV'' was created as a modern translation, by Bible scholars using the earliest a ...

(NIV) Bible in North America. Their theology is generally dispensational as opposed to covenant theology. Their logo is often the three-fold flame instead of the classic 'Z'. They are owned by one of the largest conglomerates in the mainstream media, and according to the Zondervan website, they are the largest Christian publisher.

History

Zondervan was founded in 1931 in

Grandville, MI Grandville is a city in Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 15,378 at the 2010 census. Grandville is just southwest of the city of Grand Rapids and is part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. It was first settled i ...

, a suburb of

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

, by brothers Peter ("P.J.", "Pat") and Bernard (Bernie) Zondervan, who were the nephews of publisher

William B. Eerdmans William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of ...

. The company began in the Zondervans' farmhouse and originally dealt with selling remainders and publishing

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired ...

works. The first book it published was ''Women of the Old Testament'' by

Abraham Kuyper Abraham Kuyper (; ; 29 October 1837 – 8 November 1920) was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905, an influential neo-Calvinist theologian and a journalist. He established the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, which u ...

, in 1933. Within a few years it developed a list of its own, and began publishing

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

editions. The

Berkeley Version The Berkeley Version is an English translation of the Bible. The New Testament was published by Zondervan in 1945 and an entire Bible was published in 1959. A revised version was published as the New Berkeley Version or Modern Language Bible ...

appeared in 1959, and the Amplified Bible in 1965. The

New Testament was published in partnership with the International Bible Society in 1973, and the complete NIV Bible appeared in 1978. The company was bought by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

, a division of

News Corp News Corporation, stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the original News Corporation, it was formed on June 28, 2013, following a ...

, in 1988, and is the company's principal Christian book publishing division.

Scott Macdonald Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Sask ...

was appointed President and CEO in May 2011. Zondervan also publishes many other books by Christian authors focusing on topics of interest to Christians. In the 1970s it published ''

The Late, Great Planet Earth ''The Late Great Planet Earth'' is a best-selling 1970 book by Hal Lindsey with Carole C. Carlson, and first published by Zondervan. ''The New York Times'' declared it to be the bestselling nonfiction book of the 1970s. The book was first feature ...

'' by Hal Lindsey, which has sold more than 30 million copies. They are also known for the Bible storytelling books of

Ethel Barrett Ethel Barrett (December 28, 1913 – May 10, 1998) was a prolific Christian writer, speaker, and storyteller, whose popularity peaked between the early 1950s and the mid-1980s. She sold millions of copies of over 40 different books for publish ...

, ''Joni'' by quadriplegic Joni Eareckson Tada, Baptist minister and author Rick Warren's ''

The Purpose Driven Life ''The Purpose Driven Life'' is a bible study book written by Christian pastor Rick Warren and published by Zondervan in 2002. The book offers readers a 40-day personal spiritual journey and presents what Warren says are God's five purposes for h ...

'', which has sold more than 35 million copies, and ''Sacred Marriage, ''by Gary Thomas. In 2004, Zondervan expanded to include Renee Altson, Shane Claiborne, Sarah Raymond Cunningham and

Margaret Feinberg Margaret Feinberg is an author and public speaker based in Salt Lake City, Utah. She creates books, Bible studies, and video curriculum aimed at people of faith. Biography Feinberg's father was a Jewish convert to Christianity. She spent the fi ...

, authors writing for young readers. The children's arm of the company

Zonderkidz Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). They are a part of HarperCollins Christian Publ ...

published ''

The Jesus Storybook Bible ''The Jesus Storybook Bible'' is a children's Bible written by '' New York Times'' bestselling author Sally Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by Jago Jago may refer to: People * Jago, an alternate spelling for Iago * Jago (name), a Cornish name * Jag ...

'' in 2007, written by

Sally Lloyd-Jones Sally Lloyd-Jones is a British children's book writer. Background Lloyd-Jones was born in Kampala, Uganda and studied Art History with French at University of Sussex and Paris-Sorbonne University. She is not related to the famous minister Mart ...

and illustrated by Jago it has sold in excess of 2 million copies in 19 languages. The NIV Zondervan Study Bible was released in 2015 during the 50th anniversary of the New International Version (NIV) translation. The

study Bible A study Bible is an edition of the Bible prepared for use by a serious student of the Bible. It provides scholarly information designed to help the reader gain a better understanding of and context for the text. History Perhaps the first editi ...

, edited by Dr. D. A. Carson, features over 60 evangelical contributors from multiple denominations.

Recording business

Zondervan was in the Christian record business for many years with the Singspiration and Zondervan Victory labels in the 1960s, Singcord in the 1970s, and the Milk & Honey Records label, starting in the late 1970s. In 1980, Zondervan and Paragon Associates bought Christian record label Benson Records in a partnership to own and operate for $3 million. The resulting company was (measured by sales) one and a half times the size of its closest competitor,

Word A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no conse ...

. Zondervan bought out Paragon in 1983, and eventually sold Benson to Zomba Label Group in 1993, now a part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

Pradis

Pradis was the trademarked name for Zondervan's native format for biblical software. On September 22, 2009, Logos Research Systems, Inc, and Zondervan announced a new partnership, and the retirement of Pradis. Thirty-one titles were slated for availability in "early 2010" in the LOGOS Bible Software format.

References

External links

Zondervan
{{Authority control Book publishing companies based in Michigan Christian mass media companies Evangelical Christian publishing companies Companies based in Grand Rapids, Michigan Publishing companies established in 1931 1931 establishments in Michigan HarperCollins books Protestantism in Michigan News Corporation subsidiaries Religion in Grand Rapids, Michigan