In the following year the evangelist Billy Graham offered TaylorвЂ™s paraphrase as a television premium on broadcasts of his popular вЂњCrusades,вЂќ and this brought the book into prominence.

Tyndale House Publishers was founded by Taylor for the purpose of publishing his paraphrase, beginning with the Epistles as Living Letters in 1962. He also produced other books for children, such as Devotions for the ChildrenвЂ™s hour, The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes, and Junior Devotions for Campers. So I did, and read the chapter to the family that evening with exciting results-they knew the answers to all the questions I asked! 2 It suddenly occurred to me one afternoon that I should write out the reading for that evening thought by thought, rather than doing it on the spot during our devotional time. I would paraphrase it for them and give them the thought. All too often I would ask questions to be sure the children understood, and they would shrug their shoulders-they didnвЂ™t know what the passage was talking about. Our family devotions were tough going because of the difficulty we had understanding the King James Version, which we were then using, or the Revised Standard Version, which we used later. The children were one of the chief inspirations for producing the Living Bible. In a 1979 interview published in Christianity Today he explained that the version began in the context of his efforts to explain the biblical text to his own children during family devotions: Taylor created this paraphrase as a help for those who wanted to read the Bible to children without having to stop and explain many things. Presumably the committee consisted of Taylor and members of his editorial staff at Tyndale House Publishers, who at one stage in their work solicited comments from people whom they regarded as experts in the original languages. Their many suggestions have been largely followed, though none of those consulted feels entirely satisfied with the present result.вЂќ The names of those comprising the advisory вЂњteam of Greek and Hebrew expertsвЂќ are not given, nor are the names of those who served on the 1971 Revision Committee. The preface of the complete Living Bible (1971) states that the work вЂњhas undergone several major manuscript revisions and has been under the careful scrutiny of a team of Greek and Hebrew experts to check content, and of English critics for style. The 1967 preface does not mention that Taylor is the author of the version it mentions only a вЂњParaphrase Revision Committee,вЂќ but the members of this committee are not named. The preface of the New Testament published in 1967 states that the paraphrase is based upon the American Standard Version (1901), and this agrees with TaylorвЂ™s statement in a 1973 interview 1 that the ASV was in front of him as he worked on the paraphrase. He used English versions as the basis of his paraphrase.

Although he had some theological training (at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary) he was not proficient in Hebrew and Greek. Taylor (1917-2005) was a Baptist layman employed by Moody Press, the publishing house of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. This version is Kenneth TaylorвЂ™s interpretive paraphrase of the Bible. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 1971.

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