A crop of new children’s storybook Bibles aims to reach progressive Christians who are turned off by traditional presentations of Scripture, offering messages focused on diversity, inclusion and social justice.
Publishers say the projects are meant to reflect the faith values of a changing audience — and to fill what they describe as a gap in faith resources for progressive believers.
“The Just Love Story Bible,” a “justice-oriented” storybook for readers ages four to 10, was released last month. The book, authored by Rev. Jacqui Lewis and the Rev. Shannon Daley-Harris, features 52 Bible stories and illustrations portraying characters in Black, Brown and tan skin tones.
“Our agenda is to teach young people a theology of love and justice that we don’t have to unlearn,” Lewis said in an interview with Religion News Service.
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“The biblical characters mostly look Black and Brown and caramel… now White children, I imagine, looking in this Bible and seeing brown people and thinking to themselves, ‘Oh, brown people belong to God, too,’” she added.
The authors said they also hope to prompt children to ask questions and challenge traditional beliefs about God, Jesus and the biblical narrative.
“Did that happen?” Lewis said, describing how the storybook presents Jesus’ resurrection. “For me, it matters more that children know that love never dies, so that’s where I landed.”
“It’s OK to actually tell kids from the get-go: Some of these stories are about true people and things that really happened, and some of them are made-up stories, but they’re in there because they can still teach us true things about God,” Daley-Harris said, referencing the story of Jonah.
The authors acknowledged that readers who interpret the Bible literally may not be the right audience for their book.
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“There will be a group of sort of literalist or fundamentalist folks for whom this isn’t a welcome resource,” Daley-Harris said. “But it’s been really interesting to see the reception from not just folks who are raised progressive, but those who are raised in a tradition that no longer fit them, who did grow out of a theology and are looking for one that they can grow into and grow with alongside their children.”
Lewis said the book also highlights women in Jesus’ ministry and portrays him as a “feminist.”
“When Shannon and I say we don’t want children to learn something they have to unlearn, we don’t want them to learn patriarchy from this story Bible,” she told RNS.
The book’s publisher, Beaming Books, says it hopes to reach progressive Christians seeking an “open-minded Bible.”
“We noticed a gap in the marketplace for people who are looking for a more open-minded Bible for progressive Christians, one that is focused on love and justice,” said Naomi Krueger, senior acquisitions’ editor for Beaming Books, in an interview with Publishers Weekly.
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“Its countercultural message is really appropriate for this time,” Krueger added, saying the book is intended to be “an antidote to Christian white supremacy.”
“The Just Love Story Bible” is one of several new titles pushing for broader representation in children’s Christian publishing.
Hodder Faith, a U.K.-based Christian imprint, released “Come and See: An Invitation to a Radical Encounter with Jesus,” last month. The devotional book, aimed at readers 11 and up, was written by Shannon T.L. Kearns, described as the first openly transgender man ordained to the Old Catholic priesthood, according to the author’s biography.
“If you want to take children into the Bible and still be respected as an LGBTQ person, there are not a lot of resources for you,” Hodder Faith publishing director Andy Lyon told Publishers Weekly. “It’s called ‘Come and See,’ because it’s about being seen and knowing you belong. You see Jesus and then Jesus sees you.”
Another devotional, “Growing in God’s Love: A Family Devotional,” is out from Westminster John Knox Press. The book offers daily readings that bring “substantive, progressive lessons in faith for all generations,” and is aimed at adults and children ages five to 17.
Author Jessica Miller Kelley, an editor at Westminster John Knox, said she intentionally avoided using gendered language such as “mother” or “father” in the devotionals, except when directly quoting Scripture, to make the stories more inclusive of gender diversity and different kinds of families, she told Publishers Weekly.
The book’s early readers praised its emphasis on justice, inclusivity and diversity.
Krueger said in the report that progressive Christians are looking for more resources that affirm their values – and expects the number of such projects to grow.
