What is the Brick Bible?
It is a retelling of the Bible using Legos by Brendan Powell Smith released by Skyhorse Publishing in 2001.
The Brick Bible covers many of the Bible’s main stories and even some lesser-known stories beautifully depicted in 1,400 different illustrations over 576 full-color pages. Text is based on translations using King James, Darb’s Bible, and Young’s Literal Bible.
It reads like a comic book and it is a real page-turner!
Who is the Brick Bible intended for?
Even though this Bible is fully illustrated using Legos it is NOT intended for children. The Brick Bible is intended for adults only. The Bible is not a PG-rated text. Some stories in the Bible would be rated somewhere between PG-13 and R-rated and the author treats these stories as such.
You might be asking yourself how is this done using Legos? For example, the story of Noah and the Ark is often framed as a children’s story, but it is anything but. It is a story of heartache and tragedy as all of creation minus those in the Ark are downed. In the Brick Bible, there are depictions of people drowning and dying outside the Ark. Another example, from the same story. After the Ark lands on dry ground and is blessed by God we see Noah plant a vineyard. Eventually, Noah gets drunk from drinking the wine and lies in his tent naked. Ham sees his nakedness and kindly covers his father up. Yes, Noah is depicted with no clothes on in this story, but do not worry. If you have ever played with Legos, you will know that they are just blank yellow brick figures with no genitalia painted onto them.
Is there a kid-friendly version of the Brick Bible?
Yes! The author has also created kid-friendly Bible stories. “The Complete Brick Bible for Kids” is also available. It covers six classic Bible stories and is available on Amazon This Bible would be a great addition to any children’s ministry classroom or disability ministry for children.
Is the Brick Bible a good resource for your disability ministry?
Absolutely! Legos are not just for children. No doubt several adults in your ministry have found memories of playing with Legos. Just be sure that is Bible is only made available for your adults.
Advantages of using the Brick Bible in your disability ministry.
So many people are visual learners. Seeing the Bible stories laid out masterfully using Legos will capture the attention of anyone who picks up this Bible even the most active people in your ministry.
Disadvantages of the Brick Bible.
There are not many! The biggest disadvantage that I see with the Brick Bible is that it lacks book, chapter, and verse references to the stories. This makes it difficult to turn to the exact story that you may be looking for during your lesson for the day. Each of the Old Testament and New Testament books includes a table of contents for the books of the Bible depicted. If you are actively using these in your disability ministry, I would recommend finding the specific stories ahead of time and placing a post-it note on the page so your group can easily find the story being told that day.
The author recognizes that the lack of book, chapter, and verse references is not included in this print version for stylistic purposes and points his readers to his website where such references can be found.
How many Brick Bibles would you buy for your disability ministry?
I would use the Brick Bible as a supplemental resource. In other words, I would not buy a copy for each person in your group. I would still prefer to have a more traditional Bible available for everyone. But having a few Brick Bibles available is a great idea for those learners that need something different or that struggle to read text-only Bibles.
Where can I find the Brick Bible?
You can purchase it on Amazon.
