Reviewed by Casey Kellogg
“A Visual Theology Guide to the Bible: Seeing and Knowing God’s Word’
by Tim Challies and Josh Byers
As a Christian who grew up in church, I have often made the mistake of viewing the Bible as commonplace. I was taught all the stories: of a boy and a giant, an ark full of animals, a humble manger, a coat of many colors and, of course, an old rugged cross. I knew the details of each narrative as well as I knew my own name. But while I did know the stories — I didn’t know the book.
“A Visual Theology Guide to the Bible” is an image-based text that reintroduces you to the Bible not as an entertaining storybook or an ancient text with little current value, but as the most influential and widely recognized book to ever exist. Yet this visual guide does more than tell you about the profundity of the Bible — it shows you.
As I began to read through this book, I realized I was looking at a biblical blueprint. Its images are not cartoon graphics meant to entertain but are instead detailed illustrations that explore the Bible’s structure, genre, history and much more. Each image catches the reader’s eye with a memorability that a chunk of text simply does not offer. Although the book does incorporate text, its words and images are woven together so that each adds a depth of meaning to the other that would not have been present otherwise.
Whether you are new to the Bible or — like me — you’ve been learning about it for as long as you can remember, this book offers a fascinating new biblical perspective. “A Visual Theology Guide to the Bible” is set to release March 26 and will be available for purchase in bookstores and on Amazon.
Casey Kellogg is an intern at Mississippi Christian Living and a sophomore at Mississippi College, where she is studying English writing with a minor in literature. She hails from Nesbit and enjoys listening to musicals and spending time with her cat, Wishes.
