Sunday, December 04, 2011

Printed in China

My wife recently bought for herself an ESV version of the Bible, published by Crossway, headquartered in Wheaton, Illinois. In the colophon, near the bottom it says "printed in China."

Somewhere there is something ironic about this. The communist government of the People's Republic of China has had a long history of persecuting and harassing xtians with various degrees of harshness. But now we Americans have our Bibles printed in China and shipped to us. Was it cheaper for Crossway to have the Bibles printed in China than either here or elsewhere? Also, I wonder if the Chinese who worked in the printshop are allowed to purchase Bibles in their own language?

Is any of this good news? I wonder if progress has been made now that Americans no longer prints their own Bibles. It does look like an odd reversal of roles but maybe not. Given how heathenish and degenerate our country has become, perhaps the Chinese should send missionaries here as well.