The Brick Bible: The New Testament: A New Spin on the Story of Jesus

This review is for both the Old Testament and New Testament books.I was a fan of the Brick Testament website long before the books came out and I've read through the entire site so I was reluctant to buy the books since I had already seen it all.I was very impressed with how well they were done. They pretty much look like large graphic novels and read very easily.These books are an EXCELLENT resource for showing people some of the ridiculous and immoral garbage that's in the Bible. I laugh when I read negative reviews complaining that it's too graphic for kids. I wonder if those same people write similar reviews on non-illustrated versions of the same story from which they so love to claim they get their "moral compass."I did dock one star because I didn't think that the Table of Contents were sufficient, and there was no index, making it very difficult to reference things.I understand the logic behind not referencing every verse directly on each cell, but I think these books do a poor job in cross-referencing the actual Bible so that you know where you are in the story, or how to find a particular story. Part of the purpose of having a printed copy is for situations where you don't have the internet or site readily available, so expecting the reader to go to the website for the list of books and verses seems a bit lazy. To be fair, in the New Testament version, they did add the applicable verses on each page but they buried it deep in the spine of the book, which is poor placement in my opinion. The referenced verses should be clearly printed in the extra black space on the bottom of each page so you don't have to damage the binding to get to them.The Table of contents was minimal in the Old Testament version, and practically non-existent in the New Testament version (3 entries). There should have been an entry for each of the major stories and each book of the Bible so that the reader can quickly access them. I would also like to see some sort of "tabbing" on the right side of each page indicating which Bible book you are in.Overall, I'm still pleased with the book and the author does an amazing job of exposing these stories for what they are, but it's quite frustrating that they left out important tools for people who like to cross-reference the Bible or look for certain stories with ease.

The author does have a well known website on BrickTestament with similar images where he places his own slanted commentary into each image; but this book includes some images which are not present on that site. This book sticks strictly to the excellently composed images and translations of various passages from scripture.You would be doing yourself a huge disservice if you assume that this book is simply a re-print of the images on his website. The editors did a great job removing the authors personal commentary, and stayed true to the source text from the Bible. The speech bubbles are removed, and it's straight scripture on each image with none of the commentary found on BrickTestament. To be clear, there is absolutely NO text which suggests an atheist view on the scripture printed in this book. The interpretation is left up to the viewer, which is how it should be.However, at the same time, this is not a 1:1 translation of the New Testament. The book does jump around a lot, mixing in passages from different Gospels on the same page which results in a few gaps of continuity where if you didn't already know the story, it would leave you very confused. There are multiple cases where there's a complete lack of the accompanying scripture which explains the how/why certain events transpired, but that's to be expected from any graphic novel that's not a 1:1 translation.It's also missing some of the more widely known parables, a majority of the beatitudes, and other teachings which consume a majority of Christian life today. It seems that most of the stories are focused on the harder to grasp concepts from the Bible, which helps the viewer be drawn into these stories to contemplate them. My favorite is the how he describes the Eucharist from the Book of John, it's a hard lesson but once you understand it makes perfect sense.Any confusion or disbelief from the images should prompt the reader to refer to the scripture passage in the inseam and look for answers to why the images are what they are. All said, it's a fascinating graphical depiction of some passages from the Gospels, Acts, and Revelations which should invite more people into studying the source content.

Our students liked them a lot. They peaked our students interest. We used them as graduation gifts for younger members of our congregation.

I bought this product as a way to encourage my 7 year old to read the stories of the bible. On one hand, it was an absolute success! It's laid out like a comic book of sorts with each illustration accompanied by a caption that very closely models the actual bible verses. On the other hand, I wasn't expecting the illustrations to be so graphic. I guess I assumed that since Legos were the medium of the aurhor that it was geared toward children. That is not the case. The graphic nature of the illustrations (ie: Judas is shown hanging from a noose, some characters are beheaded..., etc) illicited conversations with my son I wasn't quite prepared to have. To be fair, the author's introduction states he created the book for any person who wants access to the bible in a new way. He doesn't explicitly state it's not for children but it took reading through it with my son to realize I really needed to read it with him to explain or monitor the content. While it is a wonderful book with amazing detailed Lego creations, parents need to be prepared that it was not created solely for children. A great buy, but young children will need guidance and supervision as they read.

This is a really good way to help children read and enjoy the Bible in a new way.Excellent service from the supplier

My son loves the actual story and all the pictures, but the quality of the book binding is horrible. It fell apart within weeks of getting it. I would not recommend it on that fact alone.

As a father of 5 and leader of church children's ministry I was fascinated by what these bible story books have to offer.The photos are brilliant and make best use of the natural limitations of lego bricks. Sometimes the disadvantages of lego versus freely drawn images cause problems, and occasionally I thought the images were designed to be deliberately provocative rather than considering properly the target age range e.g too much of Bathsheba showing in the bath scene and Rehab wearing a bikini top.The language used was interesting. It was much closer to an original bible translation than most Bible story books. But despite the comic book style it doesn't use speech or thought bubbles...which makes it less engaging.In terms of content both volumes only cover narrative sections of scripture, whereas the Action Bible, which is aimed at a similar market genuinely aims to cover the whole Bible.In conclusion, primary age kids would quickly engage with it. But personally I'd choose the Action Bible over this.

My grandsons love this bible

Love the pictures and so do children. But the wording is not child friendly, difficult to understand! Such a shame.