The Lockman Foundation is a nonprofit, interdenominational Christian ministry dedicated to the translation, publication, and distribution of Bibles and other biblical resources in English and other languages.
The foundation's core products are the
New American Standard Bible
The New American Standard Bible (NASB) is an English translation of the Bible. Published by the Lockman Foundation, the complete NASB was released in 1971. The NASB relies on recently published critical editions of the original Hebrew and Gre ...
and the
Amplified Bible
''The Amplified Bible'' (AMP) is an English language translation of the Bible produced jointly by Zondervan and The Lockman Foundation. The first edition as a complete volume was published in 1965. “Amplifications” are words or phrases int ...
, both evolving from the 1901
American Standard Version
The American Standard Version (ASV), officially Revised Version, Standard American Edition, is a Bible translation into English that was completed in 1901 with the publication of the revision of the Old Testament. The revised New Testament had ...
. By 2009, the foundation had distributed about 25 million Bibles.
The foundation was established in 1942 by F. Dewey Lockman (1898–1974) and his wife Minna Lockman when they donated part of their citrus ranch in
La Habra, California
La Habra (archaic spelling of ''La Abra'', ) is a city in the northwestern corner of Orange County, California, United States. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,239. A related city, La Habra Heights, is located to the north o ...
.
Dewey Lockman led the foundation until his death, followed by Samuel Sutherland (1974–1979), and Robert Lambeth (1979–2017).
Robert Lambeth was a donor to all six seminaries of the
Southern Baptist Convention.
The foundation reported assets of $13 million and employment of 12 staff for 2020.
Pike Lambeth has served full time as executive vice-president since at least 2009.
The declared purpose of the foundation is “to foster and promote the Holy Bible as the inspired and inerrant word of God through Christian, charitable, and educational activities.”
Its doctrinal statement, established early in the foundation's history, is closely aligned with
fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguish ...
.
In common with most Bible translation projects, the foundation organized teams of scholars and pastors for the task. The Amplified translation of the Gospel of John was published first, in 1958, and the full text in 1965 (AMP). The New American Standard translation of the Gospel of John was published in 1963 and the complete Bible in 1971 (NASB). Substantial revisions to the Amplified version were issued in 1987 and 2015 and to the NASB version in 1995 and 2021. Both versions are offered in English and Spanish in various formats through the foundation's online store.
The 2021 NASB is also identified as the Legacy Standard Bible (LSB).
The foundation sought to have the NASB translated further into several Asian languages and maintained a relationship with an evangelical alliance mission for over 30 years. As a result, a Japanese version was published along with versions in Hindi, Korean, and Chinese (in both Mandarin and simplified scripts). The relationship eventually soured, and lawsuits were filed in the US and Japan over copyright and other issues. In 1991, a US Appeals Court decided the cases should be decided in Japanese courts.
As of 2022, the foundation's online store does not offer materials in Asian languages.
References
External links
Lockman Foundation website
Christian mass media companies
Christian publishing companies
La Habra, California
Organizations based in Orange County, California
Organizations established in 1942
1942 establishments in California
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