Students in every Adventist school in North America will soon have access to the new Andrews Bible Commentary through an initiative financially sponsored by three organizations, according to Andrews University president John Wesley Taylor. 

Taylor, who took office at Andrews on July 1, said that the Foundation for Adventist Education, the North American Division Office of Education, and Andrews University partnered to organize funding to send a commentary set to every Adventist school in the North American Division (NAD).

The Foundation for Adventist Education is a private foundation operated by the family of Ed and Ann Zinke, of Silver Spring, Maryland, United States, which supports many projects focused on advancing biblical understanding of Adventist theology and the church’s philosophy of education. 

The Andrews Bible Commentary, released as a concise, two-volume set in 2022, is intended for the general readership of the church, Taylor said. “We like to say that it is the accessible commentary by the scholars of the church for the people of the church. I’m honored to carry on the work of my two predecessors, Niels-Erik Andreasen and Andrea Luxton, in advocating for the church-wide distribution of this milestone work that they initiated and brought to completion. And this program to get it to the schools will help establish it as the Adventist standard for the next generation.”

The commentary was edited by Ángel Manuel Rodriguez, former director of the Adventist Church’s Biblical Research Institute, who supervised the work of a large team of associate editors and writers from around the world. “This project represents the very best in Adventist scholarship for church members,” Taylor said, “and Andrews is proud that Dr. Rodriguez and his team produced such an outstanding work that is at the solid center of Adventist biblical studies.” 

Arne Nielsen, NAD vice president for education said, “We at NAD are delighted to support this initiative because we know what the commentary is and how it will help our elementary and secondary students have a solid, Adventist understanding of Scripture. Of course, we look forward to the time when they will have access to it, not only in their school library, but also in their homes as their parents understand the richness of this resource and acquire it themselves.” 

Nielsen arranged for an announcement about the school distribution to the 6,000 attendees at the division-wide 2023 Educators’ Convention held in Phoenix, Arizona, August 7-10. He said that NAD Education is covering the shipping cost for the commentary sets to be sent out from Andrews to approximately 750 elementary and secondary schools in the United States, Canada, Bermuda, and Guam-Micronesia, starting in September. 

The original version of this story was posted on the Andrews University news site.