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Ligonier Ministries and the publishing of The Reformation Study Bible began as a result of the dedication and vision of a young theologian from Pittsburgh.
Dr. R.C. Sproul always dreamed of teaching at a seminary. After completing his education, he realized that dream when he was given the opportunity to teach at Westminster College, Gordon College, and eventually Conwell School of Theology in Philadelphia. While teaching at Conwell, the church that Dr. Sproul attended requested that he give a series of lectures in their adult education classes. As he taught in the church, he discovered that the students in his Sunday School class were burdened with a deeper hunger in learning the things of God than his seminary students. This realization awakened Dr. Sproul's passion for teaching and working with the laity.
While Dr. Sproul was pursuing his seminary education, he became increasingly aware of the impact the Protestant Reformation had on the lives of the laity in the sixteenth century.
"I saw that two crucial factors were important to the sweeping changes that were wrought in the world and the church," said Dr. Sproul. "One was that Christian scholarship was returned to the base of the authority of Scripture and the church was enriched by the teaching of its pastors by such giants as Luther and Calvin. But a second factor was also crucial for the renewing of the church and the culture. That was that the teaching of the content of Scripture was extended far beyond the walls of the university and reached the people. The message of Calvin and Luther got to the people and the church became filled with knowledgeable and articulate lay persons who carried their faith into the world, becoming change agents to reform or restructure society." This understanding of the scope and value of the Protestant Reformation, coupled with Dr. Sproul's experience in his Sunday School class prepared him for the next move that the Lord planned for him.
After Conwell merged with Gordon Seminary, Dr. Sproul elected to take a position as associate minister of theology at the College Hill Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati. It was during this time that he was approached by a group of people in the Pittsburgh area who were involved in leadership with various adult education and campus ministries. They desired to provide their staff with something close to a seminary education and came up with the idea of a study center. Dr. Sproul was asked to oversee it, and the Ligonier Valley Study Center was born. It became a place where Christians traveled from across the nation for in-depth study of theology and their faith.
After a decade of teaching, despite the obvious enrichment and enthusiasm of the students, the Study Center struggled financially as dozens of other study centers began to form around the states. In the meantime, the tape ministry exploded nationally, prompting the Board to propose that the ministry would have a greater impact moving out of campus ministry in Ligonier and into educational ministry. They found that the ministry's biggest constituency was in the Southeast; so in 1984, Orlando, Florida, became the new location for Ligonier Ministries.
While adapting to many changes, the chief purpose of the ministry remains "to help strengthen the church by providing resources for its people." This grew out of the conviction that "as the church goes, so goes the world." One resource that Dr. Sproul believed to be above value of all others was the Word of God. Dr. Sproul was approached in 1988 by a group of publishers with a vision to produce a study Bible from a Reformed perspective, and they wanted Dr. Sproul to serve as the general editor. After years of working on this project and overcoming various obstacles, The New Geneva Study Bible was released in 1995 through Thomas Nelson Publishers.
"I believe that this is the most important project that I have ever been engaged in or involved with in my entire life. It is my prayer that this bible will be as useful to you as the original Geneva Bible was to our forefathers in the English speaking world," said Dr. Sproul.
The New Geneva Study Bible, later renamed The Reformation Study Bible, is the first Bible since the 1560 Geneva Bible to contain study tools rooted in the theology recovered during the Protestant Reformation. In March 2005, Ligonier Ministries released the Reformation Study Bible in the English Standard Version. The notes are the product of a seven-year effort of Dr. Sproul and fifty other scholars who not only have the highest academic credentials, but each of them are committed to the authority of the Word of God. Because of this, Ligonier Ministries desires to keep this Bible in print and to preserve the theological integrity of the notes. It is our hope that one day The Reformation Study Bible will be available to anyone in any language and that a new Reformation will thrive around the world.
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