Tribute to Dr. Kenneth L. Barker

Few individuals have the opportunity to see their God-given vocation so clearly as Dr. Ken Barker, General Editor of the NIV Study Bible. For forty years Dr. Barker has passionately pursued his calling as General Editor of this remarkable study tool.

A self-described “poor Kentucky boy” who committed his life to Jesus during a youth rally at age 16, Dr. Barker went on to earn a BA from Northwestern College, ThM from Dallas Theological Seminary (1960), and PhD from the Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning (1969). He joined the faculty at Dallas Seminary in 1968 as professor of Old Testament, where he remained until 1981. He was a translator for the New American Standard Bible in the 1960s and 1970s, and in 1974 was invited to join the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT) working on the NIV translation. He served as CBT secretary as well as executive director of the International Bible Society’s NIV Translation Center. During CBT translation work sessions, Dr. Barker was called upon to manage the discussions and record the committee’s decisions—a job that he pursued for decades with fairness, a gentle spirit, and meticulous accuracy.

In late 1978, as the newly completed New International Version Bible was being printed and distributed, Barker and a few of his colleagues on the CBT were called on by Zondervan and by NIV translator Dr. Edwin Palmer to launch a project that was incredibly ambitious and massive in scale: to produce a study Bible that would be specifically tied to the NIV translation. To complete the study notes and other tools in this new study Bible, Dr. Palmer and his team drew from the expertise of a wide variety of evangelical scholars from multiple denominations and from around the world.

Shortly after development work began on the NIV Study Bible, Dr. Palmer was taken home to glory. At that point, Dr. Barker was unanimously elected by the editorial team and the administration at Zondervan to serve as the General Editor of the NIV Study Bible. As he now reflects on this invitation, Dr. Barker speaks of the clear path that God laid out for him: “How could I say ‘no’ to God?” He and his team navigated the acquisition and editing of thousands of pages of new content, setting industry standards for editorial excellence that remain unparalleled to this day.

Even though Dr. Barker officially retired in 1996, he used this opportunity to redouble his work on the NIV Study Bible. Working with Zondervan and his own team of Associate Editors, Dr. Barker revised the work in 1995, 2002, 2008, 2011, and again in 2020. He has presided over dozens of week-long work sessions, leading his Associate Editors in updating their already world-class study notes and other helps. And he has spent countless hours in his home study reviewing the notes and making suggestions for changes for each revision.

Through it all, he has remained an eager champion of the NIV and of this project; a cheerful, godly presence throughout the long work sessions; an incredible publishing partner; and above all a humble servant of his family, his ministry partners, and especially of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We dedicate this edition of the NIV Study Bible to Dr. Kenneth L. Barker, with deep gratitude to God and to his family for supporting his faithful work over these past four decades. We thank God for choosing this humble scholar to further the work of God’s kingdom through the multiple revisions of this standard-setting, world-class NIV Study Bible.

The NIV Study Bible Associate Editorial Team

The Zondervan Publishing Team

HarperCollins Christian Publishing