REVIEW: God’s Stories as told by God’s Children by The Bible for Normal People

Summary and Review


The Bible for Normal People is a podcast but also a community of Bible scholars and enthusiasts. In 2024 they did a Kickstarter to produce a children’s illustrated collection of over 60 Bible stories.

The stories are told like you’d relate a story to your kids while driving. They ask a question and the next thing you know you are trying to tell the Good Samaritan story from memory in words your child will understand. In the book there’s the core story as well as some sections of commentary and asides and interpretation and context. For example, the book begins with a passage from Jeremiah and a story of the exile, setting up a context for reading. Then Genesis comes next.

I chose a story in the middle to start, and I’ll admit on first reading this manner of telling a familiar story was jarring. This is an interpretation – a paraphrase. But the more stories I read, the more I settled into the approach. And the more I liked it. The illustration style is not my favorite, but again, it is growing on me as I spend more time reading through the collection.

There’s a QR code with each story to take readers to a website for exercises and activities. You must have an account to access these, which I chose not to create – so you’ll have to check those extra features out on your own.

I’m pleased with how this turned out, and I am looking forward to reading through the whole collection. But I will caution readers. These stories have an “agenda.” One I happen to agree with. I would call them “progressive” in their theology and interpretation. That’s not going to work for every family. If you are looking for a KJV verbatim sort of kids Bible or something I might describe as “classic evangelical,” this is not that. But I love it for what it is, and I’m proud to have been part of the Kickstarter that produced this.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥♥ = Great! Might re-read.

REVIEW: The Bible Tells Me So by Peter Enns

Summary and Review


This past summer I took a deep dive into the Bible for Normal People podcast. I’m generally not a podcast person, but there is a sub-set of episodes called “Pete Ruins ____” that are a deep dive into a particular book of the Bible. And I adore them. I listen while I get ready for work in the morning, and I look forward to that time that’s just for me.

So one night when I was looking for a new nonfiction book to read, I pulled this off the shelf and discovered it’s like my podcast experience in book form.

The “voice” is Pete, complete with funny and sarcastic asides. (Not all of his books are like this – there are others with a bit more academic, formal voice – equally as terrific, but just a different tone.) The content is easy to follow while still being challenging. This is not an approach to the Bible that I’ve found in the “pew” on Sunday mornings, but it’s absolutely where God has been meeting me over the last year, starting with Wisdom for Faithful Reading and then in The Lost World of the Prophets, and finally in these podcasts and this book.

My “elevator pitch” of this approach would be “a faithful approach to reading the Bible, not as a rule book to follow but a collection of writings centered around historical people of faith and their experiences with God.” The book addresses questions I have been asking for a few years now – and it affirms the FAITHFULNESS of asking those questions and seeking the answers. I loved the reading experience; it has meant so much to me in my spiritual growth and development over the last year. Highly recommend.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥♥♥ = Outstanding!