BibleGateway.com

BibleGateway.com

Current logo for BibleGateway.com

Screenshot of BibleGateway.com homescreen
Web address www.biblegateway.com
Commercial Yes
Registration Optional
Available in 47 Languages
Owner Gospel Communications (1995-2008)
Zondervan (2008)
Created by Nick Hengeveld
Launched 1993 (1993)
Current status Online

BibleGateway.com is a website designed to allow easy reading and searching of the Christian Bible in many different versions and translations, including English, French, Spanish, and other non-English languages (see below). The website is free for anyone to use. It is currently owned by Zondervan.[1]

History

Started by Nick Hengeveld in 1993[2] at Calvin College, Bible Gateway was initially planned as a static HTML presentation of the Bible.[3] In 1995, the site moved to the new Gospel Communications Network (a part of Gospel Communications International). The Bible Gateway website was originally written as a CGI script in Perl. Later versions were written in C++, PHP and Ruby.

Bible Gateway gradually expanded its database by acquiring the rights to more English and foreign language translations, including translations published by International Bible Society, The Lockman Foundation and Wycliffe Global Alliance.

In late 2008, Zondervan (the Evangelical Christian publisher of the NIV and TNIV Bible and a wholly owned subsidiary of HarperCollins) acquired Bible Gateway from Gospel Communications.[4] The sale of the site came after two years of continued financial difficulties on the part of the donation-driven GospelCom ministry.[5]

News Feed

Bible Gateway news feed updates are now able to do a quick search of the Scriptures, and the website supports a tab for any translation version. The website also gives a daily new verse to read and new translations to keep people up to date. The website's owners also created a blog spot on which people can have questions answered and discuss the Bible. The website also has an online book store at which people can buy Christian books. The books are sponsored by Christianbook.com.[6] The purpose of this update was to syndicate Bible Gateway's contents from other website addresses or from users' email addresses.[7]

In June 2009, Joseph Park was hired as president of BibleGateway.com.[8][9] Park was co-founder and former CEO of Kozmo.com,[10] which was the subject of the documentary film e-Dreams. He was also co-founder and former CEO of Askville,[11] which is now owned by Amazon.com.[11]

In May 2010, Rachel Barach replaced Park (who became Senior Vice President of Consumer Products at parent company HarperCollins Digital, Consumer) as General Manager of Bible Gateway.[12]

English-language versions

Other languages' versions

See also

References

  1. Weber, Jeremy (November 6, 2008). "Why Zondervan Bought BibleGateway". Christianity Today Magazine. Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-15.
  2. "Newsgroups: comp.archives, "Anyone want to test a gateway?" (12/28/1993)". Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  3. About the Bible Gateway
  4. "Grand Rapids Press: Zondervan acquires religious site BibleGateway.com". MLive.com. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  5. "Muskegon Chronicle: Muskegon-based Christian media giant near close". Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  6. "Christianbook Home Page - Christianbook.com". Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  7. "BibleGateway". Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  8. Engleman, Eric (September 29, 2009). "Kozmo.com founder Park leaves Amazon for Bible Gateway". TechFlash. Archived from the original on 22 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-28.
  9. Engleman, Eric (October 19, 2009). "Q&A: Joseph Park on Amazon, Kozmo and his new career move". TechFlash. Archived from the original on 16 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-28.
  10. "Innovators - From the Web To Your Door". Time. 2000-09-09.
  11. 1 2 "Askville - About Us: The Askville Team". 2008.
  12. "Zondervan names Bible Gateway general manager". Christian Retailing. 10 May 2010. Retrieved 27 April 2014.

External links

See also

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