You should know there's a new slj site! Check it out

My introduction to InterVarsity Press^® came through a crisis in evangelism. "How can you believe that what the Bible says is true? How did we get the Bible anyway?" These questions were pounding on my brain as I finished my first investigative Bible study with my pre-Christian friends. I knew I had to find answers to these questions, so I called Jeff, my InterVarsity staff worker. He gave me a chapter of a book to read.

The book was Paul Little's Know Why You Believe, and the chapter was on the Bible. It was like water to my thirsty soul. It made sense and clarified much of my own fuzzy thinking. No longer did I feel embarrassed or frustrated -- I was eager to share with my friends what I had learned.

Many students who are involved with InterVarsity^® today are as unaware as I that InterVarsity Press^® exists. But IVP^® has been publishing books, Bible studies and booklets for fifty years, providing generations of students with the resources they need.

Back in the early days, I-V staff were few and far between. Each had to cover vast regions of the country and did not have the opportunity to disciple students intensively or teach them the skills necessary for quality Bible study. There was a big need for literature which could guide students in discipleship, primarily in Bible study but also in engaging the university world with the gospel of Jesus.

InterVarsity started HIS^® magazine in order to address these campus needs. HIS (later renamed U^®), was published from 1941 to 1988. It was a monthly magazine which tackled significant issues for college students. Many of the booklets IVP would later produce began as HIS articles (for example, Pizza Parlor Evangelism by Becky Pippert and The Authority of the Bible by John Stott). Any magazine, however, has limitations, so InterVarsity Press^® was born to expand this ministry to books.

Originally, IVP was small and focused totally on campus ministry, producing Bible studies, booklets and books dealing with hot issues among students. Bible studies written by staff were collected and published first as booklets (First Mornings with God) and later as books (This Morning with God and Search the Scriptures).

One of the early booklets produced was My Heart -- Christ's Home by Robert Boyd Munger. Originally a sermon for a Sunday night service, this allegory of the heart as a house explained the importance of Christ's Lordship over all areas of life (the rooms in the house). Students enjoyed this simple metaphor and distributed the booklet widely among their friends, both Christian and non-Christian. It has become IVP's all-time best seller with more than 11 million copies sold!

The focus on the university world meant that IVP had to take the life of the mind seriously -- something which the evangelical church of the mid-twentieth century was not doing well. IVP also took seriously the Lordship of Christ -- a strength of InterVarsity throughout its history. These foundational concerns led to a broadening of the publishing agenda of the Press.

Students not only needed to study the Bible, but they also needed to see how biblical principles influenced what they were learning in psychology and biology, English and engineering. The publication of The God Who Is There by Francis Schaeffer in 1968 was a milestone in this regard. In that book, Schaeffer argued that historic Christianity could intellectually challenge competing world philosophies.

The God Who Is There was a wake-up call for the church -- inspiring many to take the life of the mind seriously, and introduced a significant Christian thinker to a broad audience in the United States. IVP continues to publish books in this tradition such as Philip Johnson's Reason in the Balance and Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds, and Jim Sire's classic world view catalog, The Universe Next Door.

Currently, InterVarsity Press^® publishes books in several different "lines." The academic line seeks to present cutting edge Christian scholarship on many different topics. The reference line seeks to produce usable and quality materials to better equip the Christian student, scholar, pastor and layperson. The Bible study line produces guides that help individuals and groups explore and apply Scripture. A special feature of this line is the NIV Quiet Time Bible. It incorporates LifeGuide^® studies into the NIV text and is IVP's first Bible publishing effort. Saltshaker Books presents popularly written/story-oriented books such as Speaking of Jesus. Of course the general line of issue-oriented books are the backbone of IVP, the mainstay of its publications.

In its fifty years, IVP^® has developed a distinguished reputation in evangelical publishing. "InterVarsity Press is more than deserving of a celebration of 'publishing excellence,'" says Doug Ross, president of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. "The quality and excellence that permeates every IVP book has helped to set the standards that are so very important to our industry." This reputation is primarily due to IVP's outstanding authors such as John Stott, Francis Schaeffer, J. I. Packer, Eugene Peterson, Calvin Miller, Walter Trobisch, Rebecca Manley Pippert, John White and Bill Hybels.

These authors have published significant books which have influenced our world for the kingdom of God. For example, Basic Christianity by John Stott has been translated into 53 languages from Afrikaans to Zulu and has sold 2.5 million copies worldwide. J. I. Packer's Knowing God has sold over one million copies.

IVP books have also transformed individuals. I can echo many students' testimony that John White's The Fight helps provide a clear example of what living as a Christian is all about. Robbie Castleman (I-V staff in Florida, and IVP author of True Love in a World of False Hope) says of Eugene Peterson's A Long Obedience In The Same Direction: "It took me from a restless adolescence in my Christian life to a steadier and more mature understanding of what it means to trust God."

The books IVP publishes cover a wide variety of topics and present several different points of view -- some within the same book! However all of the books are published with one purpose in mind: "to communicate the Lordship of Christ over all of life." Check out the resources that InterVarsity Press produces. You will probably find many of your questions answered, along with help for your intellectual and spiritual life.