Bible Illuminated: The Book New Testament Published by Forlaget Illuminated Sweden AB

Amazon.com Product Description:

A homeless man walking. A soldier preparing for combat. A mother nursing her newborn child.

Never before has a publisher illuminated the Bible with such an array of striking, even provocative contemporary photographs. Wrapped in an arresting cover, Bible Illuminated: The Book: New Testament presents The Bible in a full-color, glossy magazine format, set in running text with no verses, inviting readers to step into the Bible and experience it in a whole new way.

The Book, using the Good News Translation as approved by the American Bible Society, will introduce believers and non-believers to a culturally relevant, accessible Bible and will encourage dialogue between people from all walks of life.

When was the last time you picked it up and read it?

When picking this up I had nothing to compare or contrast it to. But all of a sudden I found myself interested in exploring the Bible, in a context I could appreciate. Having a background in design I was instantly attracted to the concept for this book. I will be reviewing this book based more on the design aspects, because that is what i know!

Though the symbolism might not be as easy for me to understand compared to someone with a good knowledge of the Bible I still enjoyed trying to make the connections between the quotes and imagery. I found this translation of the Bible surprisingly simple to understand. I was expecting to have to do a lot more deciphering to understand it. That makes it all the more attractive to read, I can just read it!

Bible Illuminated is literally a magazine and a thin one at that! It actually reminds me of NEED Magazine, which is a humanitarian magazine with breathtaking photography and powerful stories. Both Bible Illuminated and NEED Magazine are laid out beautifully, no clutter only the essentials.

A few pages into Bible Illuminated, you see the below image of what I will assume is a mother and child. This image hasn't left my mind since I first saw it.

I love how Bible Illuminated tells a complete story using all sorts of imagery including celebrities, historic events, strange fashion-like photography (see below image) and computer festivals among other things! I like how each section for the most part, used it's own specific theme for photography to separate it from the others. That definitely added to the idea of a magazine with different stories or sections.

It was very helpful for me to have quotes pulled out but for consistency it would have made more sense to stick with maybe large quotes and highlights and gotten rid of the red quotes and black boxed quotes. Too many ways to do one thing gets a little bothersome. Also because this is literally a magazine it's a little hard to read without fearing I would damage it, I think maybe a slightly thicker cover would help make it easier for reading it wouldn't flop around as much. Magazines tend to slip right out of my hands and land on the floor!

I know that the Old Testament is set for release in 2009. I hope this will not be the final book from The Illuminated World. I would be very interested to see if they will continue on this project with other religious texts. That would be amazing.

I know some people are questioning this version of the Bible, but for me I find it fascinating. Honestly, I can't think of a more attractive way to be presented this text, but then again that's just me! I know I will definitely be exploring Bible Illuminated for years to come. This is a fascinating piece that deserves multiple readings.

Read my earlier sneak peek here.

4/5 Stars
Review copy provided by publisher