The Jesus Story Book Bible
We're always looking for good children's Bibles. Right now, we are reading through The Jesus Story Book Bible right now (on loan from a friend, who has ours), and have to admit it is with mixed results. I should preface that by saying that we love The Big Picture Story Bible, which I have read through well over a dozen times with Elisabeth.
The Jesus Story Book Bible does a great job of prefiguring Christ through the stories of the Old Testament. That is the tremendous virtue of the book. The downside is that I wouldn't characterize it as great literature. Maybe after one or two really thorough revisions it could arrive at the place where all the words are well-chosen; but it is not there yet.
Now that I think about it, the reason that I so much prefer The Big Picture Story Bible to The Jesus Story Book Bible is the theological bias of each. The Big Picture takes the Kingdom of God as the central motif, and clearly tells the Gospel, with remarkable economy of language, through that lens. The Jesus Story Book treats 'God as lover' as the central motif, and often drifts into Sleeping Beauty type language (and in my opinion misrepresents the nature of God's desire for human beings).
So in my opinion, the scales are balanced on the Jesus Story Book: great prefiguring, but sloppy language and theology. In some ways far better than standard children's Bibles, but in some ways missing the mark. I highly recommend The Big Picture Story Bible for its rich literary and theological quality, and I'd encourage you to check out the Jesus Story Book and see if I'm overly critical!
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3 comments:
We picked up a copy of this for our kids at Christmas-time. I figured, "Justin Taylor and Tim Keller both recommend it even though Graham has hesitations."
We only read a bit from the beginning and then from the gospels section (starting with the birth narratives) but decided to return the book. I really wasn't pleased with the filter that was used...e.g. the sermon on the mount as "singer."
I'd recommend passing on this one. There's better stuff out there for the money.
I think I missed the bit about the sermon on the mount as "singer". Can you explain?
Since I've returned the book, I'll have to do the best I can from memory. Basically, I think the idea was that Jesus, as the giver of the sermon on the mount, was the singer and the section concluded with some material about Jesus singing. I don't recall the details now but it didn't work for me, nor did the section on not being anxious (Mt 6). You'd have to look it up yourself for details.
Interestingly, one of my regular blog reads recommended this same book today after I commented.
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