The Brick Bible: The Complete Set

Think you know Bible stories? Think again. In this two-volume set, narrator and illustrator Brendan Powell Smith, portrays the Old and New Testament Bible stories through set pieces composed entirely of LEGO blocks and figures. It’s a diorama project on steroids. Smith’s originality, composition, and humor (the Holy Ghost is a ghost figure; Saul/Paul is seen blindly stepping onto the prongs of a rake with the handle hitting his face; the apostles doing magic tricks. See pix) invites a different – and more difficult – interpretation of these ancient tales.Smith depicts many of the traditional stories found in the Old Testament (focusing on the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges. Samuel, Kings and Job) but with a subversive twist: the murder, rape, incest, and ruthless pillaging that was left out of my many Sunday School lessons. The last third of the New Testament volume is devoted to the Revelation of John, more commonly called the Book of Revelation. The apocalyptic and fantastical vision of this work (that always had more of a Greek mythology feel for me than a scriptural one) is rendered in complex and ornate LEGO scenes. Smith’s vision is brilliantly and explosively realized in this last chapter.The sheer originality of Smith’s  work  earns this project 5 stars, but the execution – detailed scenes, outstanding photography, and engaging story flow – makes this translation a must-have addition to your Bible studies.

After receiving this book, my child is so excited to read at night! It combines the Lego bricks along with reading! Having the unique story time and Bible stories my son enjoys bedtime reading!

I saw this at Costco. I bought it for myself because I like children's books. I thought it would be good to give to my Grandkids, so I bought one from Amazon & had it sent to them. I'm am seriously regretting that I sent it to them. I thought it would inspire them to read the actual Bible scriptures. The scenes of the Bible stories depicted on the outside of the book were very tame and reminded me of all the Bible stories I knew. I have fond memories of my childhood when my mom and I read Bible stories on Sunday mornings out of a picture book. I realize the Old Testament tells of the dealings of God with the Isrealites and other groups of people that I do not understand. I have always felt the Old Testament did not depict the actual intent of God and his dealings with his children on the earth. So I sent the book to my Grandkids and started reading the Brick Bible for myself. I began with the Old Testament. The author states that most people do not know what is really in the Bible and he wanted to let people know. The author only portrayed the bad and confusing portions of the Bible. I think his idea of what is in the Bible is very skewed. If a person is to understand the scriptures, they must have some kind if inspiration from God. They also feel some kind of good feelings when they read it. The author was definitely not inspired & his intent was not admirable in creating what could have been a good book depicting the stories of the Bible.I did not have any feelings of peace or understanding when I read this. 80% of the Old Testament depicted shows the slaughtering of whole groups of people. There are also stories of many bad things that people who were supposed to be godly did. The good things that godly people did we're not portrayed in a godly way. When I read this, I felt no hint of the spirit of God. In fact, I felt a spirit of the intent of the author to show the ugly portion of human existence. If the pictures on the outside of the book reflected what was on the insides pages of the book, most people would not buy this for their kids. A person definitely needs the spirit of God when reading the Old Testament and I did not feel any of the Spirit of God from reading this. So I wished I had headed the warnings of several of the comments not to buy this for kids.I have not read the New Testament yet (I'm still wading through the Old Testament). and so cannot comment on itIn summary, this "cute" Lego depiction of the Bible is not so cute. It is not for children and I probably not even for adults. I would probably not even have bought it for myself if I had know what it was really like.

Kids love Legos, so it seems like this would be for kids. The author/builder has recreated Old and New Testament stories using Lego bricks. Unlike cutesy Noah's ark and Jonah stories that whitewash the Bible stories the author/creator actually emphasizes the areas of the Bible that tend to get ignored. He's not adding anything (well except for interpretation). The parts he puts in the Bible are there. For example, Noah gets drunk after he gets off the ark and passes out naked. That's there. His son (with raised eyebrow, I'm not sure where he got a Lego face with a raised eyebrow like this one) delights and looking at his father's naked body. That's in the Bible. It usually gets glanced over. Also, to use the same story, in the Bible kids usually are given Noah's ark story because there are lots of animals on a boat. But it's a dark story, God destroying the world. So in the Brick Bible there is a woman floating on a log trying to survive. Someone is trying to save a baby. When the ark is floating there are skeletons all over the ocean floor and when the ark lands there are skeletons on the ground. There is also a scene where a Rebekah gives birth where Jacob is holding onto Esau's heel. She's got her legs spread and there's lots of blood. So these examples are to say, do you want to explain these types of things to your child? The answer may be yes. It's a bit of satire. Noah sacrifices a giraffe (if you follow the logic of the story). The images in Revelation are literal as opposed to figurative. But you can have that conversation. I tend to think that it's a bit more honest to show the skeletons and the drowning people in the Noah story than it is to have dollish Noah and wife smiling with rosy cheeks on the ark in sunny weather. I think its better to know what's there. It isn't a cutesy, rosy cheeked kid's version of the Bible. It stays close to the text and satirizes modern interpretations of the Bible. It might be for a high school student or adult who used to love Legos. You could get it for a kid a little younger as long as you're willing to read it along with them and explain it. I first read about the Old Testament version in a religious satire magazine called The Wittenburg Door [sic]. It's really well put together and I like having the Old and New Testament together in one boxed set like this. It's two separate books.Is it for your kids? Maybe not if you're expecting a cute Bible with rosy stories for your 8 year old who loves Legos.I teach college New Testament, world religions, English, and critical thinking so I'm glad for my son to read it so we can discuss it together.

Cumplió mis expectativas

Material de otima qualidade e o conteudo otimo tendo como base a biblia.

These books are amazing, the Bible stories are really well depicted in Lego. Love it.

Incredibile take on the Bible. It contains graphics portrayals, even if the most graphic one are not present (only online).

This amazing box set comes with two volumes, namely, the old and new testaments of the Bible.All of the verses are explained in a satirical manner using Legos, which give a graphical and often hilarious representation to all of the verses.These books are definitely not meant for children, as they give literal interpretations for all verses in the Bible, some of which obviously include adult content. This book is also not meant to be used for serious bible studies, as the apparent aim of the author is to trivialize the content.It is great as a casual read, and will be appreciated by those who are not ardent Christians, and who can laugh at oft serious topics which are rarely discussed at the local Parish.Personally i loved the representations and the detail with which Legos from varying sets have been used together. A truly imaginative masterpiece!