The ESV Creeds and Confessions Bible

A review of Crossway's English Standard Version (ESV) Bible with Creeds and Confessions in black Trutone imitation leather (ISBN 9781433566875). This Bible features a dark, reasonably
bold 10 point font with line-matched text arranged in two columns and divided into paragraphs. The approximately 26 gram per square meter (gsm) paper is white, reasonably opaque, and somewhat
glossy. The text block is Smyth Sewn and the cover is attached using a paste-off method with a paper liner, and the Bible lies open in Genesis.

The Trutone cover feels good to the touch and is more flexible that one might expect. References are printed in a 6.5 point font located on the lower right-hand corner of the page.

Text and translation notes are in an 7.5 point font at page bottom. There are 8 color maps, two black ribbon markers, and black and yellow head and tail bands.

No book introductions were provided, but the concordance has over 2400 word entries, almost 10,000 references, covers 60 pages, and is printed in a 7.5 point font.

The 174 page Creeds and Confessions section includes the following: the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, the Chalcedonian Definition, the Augsburg Confession, the Belgic Confession, the Articles of Religion (of the Church of England), the Canons of Dort, the Westminster Confession, the London Baptist Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Westminster Larger Catechism, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

Detailed Contents

00:00 Dimensions, margins, layout, font ... (three charts)
00:27 Size compared to the ESV Large Print Thinline
00:47 Size compared to the ESV Study Bible
01:01 Page layout
02:11 Margins
02:47 The font in the text
03:55 The references and the text and translation notes
04:19 Paper qualities
04:47 Print non-uniformity (variations in darkness)
05:54 The words of Christ are in black ink!
06:22 The table of weights and measures
06:31 The concordance
07:06 The creeds and confessions
07:51 The 8 color maps
08:15 The stitching is visible in the maps section
08:46 The Bible lies open and nearly flat
09:30 The ribbon markers and the head and tail bands
10:25 The copyright page
11:35 The Nicene Creed is not the original; it includes later, Western additions, such as the filioque
12:01 The Westminster Confession does include the Scripture references
12:14 The font compared to that in the ESV Large Print Thinline
12:45 A close-up look at the font
13:14 The font compared to that in the ESV Study Bible
13:29 A glance at the slip case (there is no box)
14:04 How literal is the ESV? A translation continuum chart
14:52 How often does the ESV depart from the Masoretic text and follow the Dead Sea Scrolls or an ancient version like the Septuagint?
15:23 The ESV's New Testament compared to four Greek New Testaments, the Nestle-Aland 28th edition, Westcott & Hort, Robinson-Pierpont, and the Tyndale House Greek New Testament
16:54 The black Trutone cover with its five raised hubs
17:25 Summary