The Brick Testament
I grew up without religion — the subject just never really came up. Which left me pretty confused when I was sent to a heavily Christian daycare, but that’s another story for another day (the short version: I just couldn’t figure out why every day they told us the same fairy tale, and it wasn’t even a very good one). Over time I was exposed here & there to bits & pieces of the Bible, but it was all a muddled mystery to me, and sitting down to try to read it one day got me nowhere — I think I got lost in a sea of “begat”s. My interest in the Bible wasn’t religious — I was just tired of getting stuck on Biblical crossword puzzle hints.
Then, one day a few years ago, Hanford pointed me to a new version of the Bible: The Brick Testament.
The Brick Testament, by the Rev. Brendan Powell Smith
The Reverend Brendan Powell Smith (who is a reverend like my imaginary cat is the pope) is creating the whole Bible by using only Legos. This speaks to me on several levels: 1) It’s Legos. So I’m in. 2) It’s a pretty straightforward telling of the stories, and tries to be as true to the Bible as one can be when using little plastic yellow robot-men. 3) It’s not trying to sell me a way of life, it’s just trying to translate a book. Amen.
It was a Rosetta stone for me — finally, I was able to learn the backstories that went with the characters I was only vaguely able to identify before. Kind of like getting a CliffsNotes version of the Marvel universe. Only more socially relevant, I guess. It was much appreciated.
The funny thing is, right during that time when I was using the Brick Testament to get up to speed with the Bible, Hanford & I were at a local drugstore, and we saw a young couple checking out children’s illustrated Bible story books. Hanford thought that one of them was the Right Reverend Smith — we found out later that it was. Hanford still kicks himself for not going up to chat with him.
Appropriately, the Reverend has illustrated Bible story books of his own — perfect for the religiously confused tyke in your life!
The Brick Testament: The Story of Christmas
The Brick Testament: Stories from the Book of Genesis
The Brick Testament: The Ten Commandments
