141. New Catholic Picture Bible

New Catholic Picture Bible by Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D. (Canada) - (USA)

Pages: 232 pages
Ages: ALL
Finished: July 19, 2010
First Published: 1955
Publisher: Catholic Book Publishing Co.
Genre: Bible
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

God is eternal.

Acquired: My son was gifted this at his Baptism & 1st Communion by his Godmother.

Reason for Reading: Every Mon-Fri (mostly) we read a Bible story.

We converted to Catholicism two Easter Vigils ago and were already in the middle of another Bible Story book at that time. When we finished it we moved onto this one, our first Catholic Bible story book. I'll review this book in particular and then compare how I found it to the usual Protestant or ecumenical Bible story books we had previously read.

This is a nice gift Bible with puffy boards and a Presentation page to fill out. Each story is a two-page spread with the left-hand side usually being an illustration and the text on the right-hand side. There is some variety to this though as there are some longer stories where the picture is shrunk to half or a third of the page to make more room for the text and there are scattered throughout some short stories that take up one page with illustration and text sharing the same page. The illustrations are beautiful old-school paintings, very realistic and religious. Mary, Joseph and Jesus are always shown with a halo. Unfortunately no one is credited with the illustrations. The text is a delight to read, presented chronologically and has a suitable reading level for a wide range of ages.

I've read many, many Bible story books through the 21 years I've been a mother. How did we find this specifically Catholic Bible story book different from all the others? The beginning and the end to start. This Bible starts with the fall of Lucifer and his "bad angels" and ends with the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Earth and the conversion of the first Christians. This Bible also has a definite emphasis on Christ and the Gospels. During the Old Testament, whenever an event or prophesy was made there would be an explanation of how this referred to or was fulfilled in the New Testament. I really appreciated this as it kept us focusing on Christ even during the Old Testament, just like during Mass. The other difference is of course, the Catholic element found in the New Testament where all the Biblical references to the Church are explained and events that are Holy Days are mentioned as such. Also the Eucharist, the Transubstantiation, the Stations of the Cross, the establishment of the Church and the Peter's Primacy are all told from within the Bible stories from whence they came.

Thus, I have no problems with reading any Bible story book, Protestant or ecumenical, even as a Catholic, but I do see the advantages of a faith specific Bible story book. Given a choice, though, I would now chose a Catholic Bible story book over another.

A lovely Catholic Bible story book, recommended for gift giving.