Brian Simmons Audiobooks

Scripture rendered for a modern ear: The Passion Translation of the New Testament

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Who is Brian Simmons?

Brian Simmons is the author of The Passion Translation, a version of the English Bible – and that single fact is the reliable core of what the public record offers, since the name is shared by a number of unrelated public figures. This page prefers honest brevity to borrowed biography, so it keeps to what is certain: Simmons has taken on one of the most demanding tasks in writing, producing a fresh rendering of scripture in English.

Bible translation is never a neutral act. Every version takes a position on how the original texts should sound to a modern ear, and the name of his project announces that position in advance: this is scripture presented for immediacy, aimed at readers and listeners who want the text to feel urgent rather than archaic.

Brian Simmons in audiobooks

Our catalogue carries The Passion Translation: The New Testament (2nd Edition), and scripture is one of the oldest audio traditions there is – these texts were heard aloud for centuries before most people could read them, so an audiobook edition is less a novelty than a return to form. A complete New Testament in audio also suits how such a text is actually used: in passages and sittings, returned to over time, rather than consumed once like a novel.

For UK listeners the practical note is simple: translations of the Bible genuinely differ from one another, and this is a distinctive one. Listeners who know other versions will notice the difference; that, presumably, is the point.