The Family Illustrated Bible
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The Family Illustrated Bible
When I saw the Family Illustrated Bible, I was excited to review it. The Family Illustrated Bible is written by Sally Tagholm and published by New Leaf Publishing Group. The book is hardcover and is 8.5ÃÂ11 inches in size. The illustrations in the book are beautiful, being in detail and in very bright and vibrant colors. It is written in a storybook formation with the stories written in 1-3 pages.
You will find that the major stories of the bible are in here, like Adam and Eve, Moses, Noah and birth of Jesus. You will also find stories from the bible that you normally wouldnâÂÂt see in a childâÂÂs bible story book, like Sodom and Gomorrah and Rahab and the spies.
The overall appearance and stories found in the bible are very nice. However, I did find a few things that concerned me. First off, they include The Gospel of Thomas in the New Testament section. This book is not included in the Bible. Some statements in a few of those stories also showed that God was worried. Which is definitely not true. Some of the stories just had inaccurate information, like when they Red Sea was parted. It says the ground was muddy and the Bible clearly states that they walked on dry ground.
Overall, it is a nice book, but I donâÂÂt think I would recommend it to families. To me, there is more wrong with the book than there is right.
January 13, 2013
I like this book.
I received this book in the mail from the New Leaf Publishing Group. It's a hard cover book with 356 pages, this book was previously published as The Children's Bible. I really like this book because of the History it has in it, it starts with the contents then has a section called Books of the Bible. The section that talks about the Books of the Bible has neat pictures of the two testaments, Dead sea scrolls, Shepherd of Hermas, and other two Bibles that were printed though out the Middle ages and in the 1440's. There is also other Bible history information before you get to the Old Testament. The Family Illustrated Bible has lot's of neat pictures that give you an idea of what it could of looked like in the Bible times.
I recommend this book for children or to use as a History book for homeschoolers or even just to read as a book. This book is not meant to be used as a "Bible" since it's not in actual Bible form. All in all I liked it and so did my 5yr old son.
Note: I received this book free from the publisher for my honest review.
January 31, 2012
Great Illistrations; a great addition to have!!
The Family Illustrated Bible was previously published as The ChildrenâÂÂs Bible. Stories retold by Sally Tagholm. Reference spreads by Peter Chrisp.
This Bible has vivid illustrations with vibrant colors, sketches and photographs. It is an easy read; children are able to understand the stories. It is a great tool for family devotion as well as home school studies.
This Bible aids oneâÂÂs imagination in mental visualization of each story. This Bible allows one to revisit memories of the stories shared during childhood.
The Family Illustrated Bible has an extensive content of the Old and the New Testaments. The Church of Rome is discussed with graphic illustration and a time line. People of the Old and New Testaments are listed with illustrative drawings of some.
In my opinion this Bible would be a great addition to have to share with your family and add to your library.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the New Leaf Publishing Group Book review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade CommissionâÂÂs 16 CFR, Part 255: âÂÂGuides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.âÂÂ
January 28, 2012
Book that Needs a Revision
The Family Illustrated Bible was previously published under the name The Children's Bible. It is a beautiful-looking hardcover book, but the first thing I noticed upon opening the cover was that it was originally published by DK Publishing, a secular publishing company. I'm not sure why New Leaf Publishing, a Christian publishing company, took over the publishing of this book. Don't get me wrong: We enjoy many DK books. However, considering this is a collection of stories from the Bible, I feel that many of the stories have taken liberties in the re-telling and interpretation of said stories. For example, there was a statement made even in the story of Adam and Eve that alluded to God being "worried" about Adam being alone; perhaps a better choice of words was in order (here and in other places).
When the Bible is dissected into stories, such as this book, it takes away from the uniform theme of God's sovereignty and Christ's love for us as woven through the Bible. In reading the Old Testament stories, there is emphasis put on the covenants made with/through various people but the reason for these covenants is lacking. It would be wonderful to see how God's plan of salvation was in place long before Jesus came to Earth as the God-man; how He was pictured in so many of the Old Testament events, individuals, and covenants. As written, each story begins and ends in just that story; they aren't aiming to connect the promised Messiah and Saviour to a future event.
At the beginning of both the Old and New Testament, there are historical points of interest with illustrations. There are also similar brief sections within each division that draw your attention to events, people, architecture, archaeology, and the culture of the time. Some points are more relative than others. For example, I'm not sure why it is important to have a relief picturing four naked men, entitled "Naked exercise". This particular tidbit of information explains that a Jewish high priest (under the reproach of many other Jews), admired Greek culture; in so doing, he built a gymnasium where Greek men could exercise naked. I'm wondering if New Leaf missed the boat on this one. I don't feel that this is appropriate in a family illustrated Bible.
There are some interesting facts, such as discovering that Babylon's Ishtar Gate was found in ruin and rebuilt in Berlin, Germany. Out of curiousity, I searched Google for a date and found that it was finished in the 1930's. Hitler came into power in 1933. Interesting to note that this gate represents "all wicked states opposed to God" to the Jews. Overall, most of the "extra" information in this book was highly informative to placing Biblical events in context with their geographical and cultural locations.
I will complete my review with a sigh, inaudible as it may be. If you are familiar with DK books, you will understand how this book is written. Some of the descriptions in the historical/cultural sections are written from the perspective of people who possibly have a school degree in "religion", not necessarily a personal relationship with Jesus. I would encourage the new Christian publisher to comb through this book before reprinting.
January 23, 2012
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