Friday, October 30, 2015

The Ology: Ancient Truths Ever New by Marty Machowski


THE OLOGY


The Ology
The Ology: Ancient Truths Ever New by Marty Machowski and published by New Growth Press is a unique book of bibles stories and bible concepts woven together in a fairy tale theme.  Rather than a book of just bible stories, this book presents bible stories and biblical messages as part of a larger story.  Two children come across a mysterious old volume- reminiscent of the back drop of the popular film, The Neverending Story.  Yet unlike a fictional land with mythical creatures and dwarfes, the children find themselves inside the bible stories as the ancient and unacceptable tomb suddenly is easily understood by the young children.  This book makes spiritual concepts and bible stories accessible to children in a fairy tale,  fantasy format. The mysterious aura of this book will be alluring to young children.  
Unlike traditional bible story books or devotional books, there are not too many traditional biblical pictures.  The illustrations are more abstract or mystical in nature.  Unlike the text which is well grounded in scriptural, the illustrations  have a New Age taste.  Other illustrations are allegorical- illustrating theological concepts through simple drawings. For example, the idea of sin is represented by a vanilla ice cream cone crawling with slimy earthworms. I found this a power and effective representation of sin that reaches out to young readers. 
 If I had to suggest one change, it would be the cover illustrations.  The busy and eclectic cover with the elaborate drawing of the crown almost seems reminiscent of the imagery of the Catholic Church and the reference to the giant squid entwined around a rocket might not be readily understood. Personally, I think if the cover was designed more simply as a replica of a vintage old bible, it would be more suitable.  With so many children's bibles and and spiritual books on the market, a cover like this might make parents and educators confused.  I don't feel the cover does this book justice.  Aside from the cover, once the reader actually explores this book, I feel parents as well as children will find this book to be a comprehensive resource for teaching children about God's message,  As a blogger for Litfuse Publicity I received a copy of this book published by New Growth Press for the purpose of writing this review.



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