I’m an absolute sucker for creative LEGO concoctions, but this one may take the cake. I bring you The Brick Testament, the brainchild of the Reverend Brendan Powell Smith (he’s not actually a Reverend.) Smith has photoillustrated a whole bunch of Bible scenes constructed entirely out of LEGO pieces. I love the photography, especially the use of perspective and varying depths of field. It’s an ingenious work of art designed to “give people an increased knowledge of the contents of The Bible in a way that is fun and compelling while staying very true to the original versions.” There are even picture books available for sale.
Perhaps it’s due to America’s conservative Puritan roots, but a common view of the Bible is that it is a dry, boring, rule book with a few happy Sunday school stories mixed in. The absurdity of the media used in this project (check out the depiction of the Father, Son and “Holy Ghost”) delightfully underscores just how, um… racy the Bible actually is. It has just as much sex and violence as your average episode of The Sopranos. Which highlights another important point. Like the Bible, our world — the real world — is filled with sex and violence, good news and bad news, love and hate. The Bible is as relevant today as it ever was.
There’s gotta be some folks out there who will find this project by Smith to be sacrilegious.
My advice? Lighten up.
As fas as I can tell, the illustrations are very closely aligned with the actual biblical texts. And remember, God is not without a sense of humor. As I often like to point out, kids LOVED hanging out with Jesus. And it is my experience that kids don’t naturally flock to boring, stodgy, stick-in-the-mud fuddy duddies. My take is that The Brick Testament is one person’s fun and creative take on stories that are as timeless and engaging as anything you’ll see on HBO.
[Tags] Bible, God, LEGO, Jesus, The Sopranos [/tags]
Very fun! The only thing I don’t like is that most of the characters seem to have a scowl on their face – ie: Jesus, God, Moses – don’t look too happy. Of course, I’m being nit-picky, but as an extra touch, it’d be nice if they were happy because I agree with you Jason, I think Jesus was a fun guy!
I love the brick testament – I found it when searching for illustrations for sunday school lessons. I’ve used them a couple of times. My sons love it!
Thanks for writing Helen! That Brick testament is really a neat thing…I’m sure it makes for an engaging and interesting teaching tool!
OMG! this is funny.
my teacher uses them for class sometimes.
when we talked about religion.. HAHA