Disclaimer: I received a copy of this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links. Thanks for your support.
This summer I sent out a ton of Catholic book review requests while I was waiting for the Little Man to be born. One of the books I received was a copy of the Catholic Children’s Bible from St. Mary’s Press.
The Catholic Children’s Bible is an honest to God bible for children, complete with bible verses, rather than being a storybook. It’s actually the first I’ve had the opportunity to lay my hands on. It is color coded by sections and key passages are highlighted on special 2 page spreads. Those spreads re-tell the story as well as highlight sections to understand it, live it & tell it. In addition to the bible itself (available in hardcover or softcover), there are also numerous iPad apps, a book of activity pages, a Bible leader guide and even a Strategic Reading Resource to bridge the gap between reading with religious education.
We’ve been using it with our Faith & Life catechism program. The teachers guide has us frequently reading passages from the bible and its nice to use one that is easy for a child to understand. It’s colorful and she frequently asks to read the passages on the special 2-page spreads when we are near them.
I do have one problem with the Catholic Children’s Bible, which may or may not be a deal-breaker for you. The translation. It’s…not the greatest. From what I have found, it’s apparently based on a set of minority manuscripts which are in accurate at best or completely leaves out verses at worse.
For instance, this passage is completely missing (though present in the footnotes):
Acts 8:37, “And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
And several more are inaccurate including Mark 10:24 and Revelation 22:14. You can read more about various translations here and draw you own conclusions about whether you care or not. For me, I prefer them to read and memorize it in its full meaning. Children aren’t dumb; they can get it.
That being said, I did like the features and ways for children to learn to navigate the books of the bible. I also liked that it was easier to understand than others; I just wish it were still accurate. I also liked the in-depth story sections. In fact, before I started researching bible translations (unrelated to this review), I had wanted all the supplemental materials, as well.
We will continue to use the Catholic Children’s Bible for now, knowing its limitations. It’s the best I have seen but its not as good as it could be. If you are considering buying a Protestant bible so that your child gets a “fun” bible to read, I would consider this one first — at least it has all the books! This would be a good first bible for advanced first grade to junior high or so.
3 Comments on Catholic Children’s Bible (Book Review)
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[…] The NIrV is the New International REVISED Version of the bible. It is slightly different from the NIV which was the basis for the Catholic Children’s Bible, which is leaves a lot to be desired for that reason. I didn’t go through every passage on this list, but did notice that several passages were better than the NIV, the large missing chunk of John was there and some of the references of Satan being called the Morning Star were clarified from NIV. There were still missing verses and poor wording, but in my opinion NIrV is superior to NIV. It’s superior enough that even though its missing 7 books, I still prefer her to use the Adventure Bible for Early Readers over the Catholic Children’s Bible. […]
Valerie
20 February 2014 at 3:19 AM (10 years ago)Hi Jen,
I was reading about the majority vs minority versus and that’s when i decided not to buy this bible…Actually it’s for myself…LOL…I have a hard time “understanding” the bible and I need a kids or teen version….I did like this bible in particular because it has all verses and it is a huge bible….Can you recommend other children/teen bibles for an adult like myself…thank you
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jen Reply:
February 20th, 2014 at 8:35 AM
I wish I could. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen a Catholic child’s bible with a good translation. This is the first I’ve seen of it’s kind. If I find one, I’m sure I will post about it :).
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