InterVarsity Launches New Academic Imprint

by Jana Reiss, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 11/30/2005

At AAR/SBL, evangelical publisher InterVarsity Press formally announced a new imprint called IVP Academic, which will house the press's growing line of reference and academic books. The new line will launch in January, and will include books for research and classroom use in areas such as theology, biblical studies, philosophy, science and psychology.

"For the past 15 years, we have been on a path of becoming a publisher with a strong academic line," said IVP publisher Bob Fryling. "We wanted to differentiate that part of our line for the academy." Fryling noted that the tagline for IVP Academic ("Evangelically rooted. Critically engaged.") reflects the press's hopes for it. "Our vision for IVP Academic is really to bring the best of evangelical scholarship into the broad marketplace of the academy," he said.

Fryling sees the chief competition in academic religion publishing as coming from "Eerdmans, Oxford, and to some extent Baker Academic. We overlap with them. We're all after the same authors." But Fryling told RBL that IVP is distinct in two areas. "We have a very strong connection and vision for the academy as a place, a community. To help foster the discussion among scholars in the spirit of community is very important to us. And the other thing is that we really are tied into the evangelical tradition. That is our heritage, which is bearing fruit broadly within the academy."

One of the line's most ambitious projects will be a 27-volume series of Reformation commentaries on the Bible. Essentially, the series will capture the biblical exegesis and commentary of reformers like Luther and Calvin, as well as lesser-known figures—including the non-academic writings of women of the period—and make them available in English for a contemporary audience. The first volume is due in 2009.

Fryling notes that while IVP is not ready to announce it formally, IVP Academic will not be the only separate imprint for the press. Next year, readers can look for news of other new imprints and sub-imprints that will reflect the publisher's growing diversification.