Read Online Visual Theology Seeing and Understanding the Truth About God Tim Challies Josh Byers 9780310520436 Books

Product details Paperback 160 pages Publisher Zondervan (April 19, 2016) Language English ISBN-10 0310520436

Visual Theology Seeing and Understanding the Truth About God Tim Challies Josh Byers 9780310520436 Books Reviews

• Meh, this book is pretty bland.
  As I skimmed it, there doesn't appear to be anything poor in it's theology. That's a plus.
  
  But considering the book it titled Visual Theology I sort of expected, you know, visuals.
  Is it more graphic than a typical Systematic Theology book? Oh for sure.
  But is it visually graphical in a meaningful depth? Nope. Not even close.
  I expected some pretty versions of some complex theological concepts, however there were essentially none.
  If I were to be very lenient in my expectations, there were a few. But they weren't anything noteworthy that just screamed out as a perfect illustration of what they were conveying.
  
  I really wanted to like this book. I did.
  But there really isn't any content there to match the title.
  
  On the plus side, it does have some very good and practical basics of Christian thought.
  It is too light to be "systematic theology" but it is a good overview of many topics.
  It seems to hit the major points in what it is to be Christian, who Christ was, what sin is, etc...
  
  Photo examples
  The Table of Contents shows the extent of the entire book
  
  Chapters typically have icons or an icon based chart/illustration in the beginning, then each section that talks about that point has the icon as the header. I've included multiple examples as to how they handle this method through the book.
  
  Lastly, I included one image from Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology.
  If you've ever read large systematic theologies you know there are rarely images or illustrations.
  Here is one that I feel is what I was looking for in this book (but obviously of higher quality).
  I really think if Visual Theology was full of images that illustrated and conveyed complex theological concepts in an easily digestible manner (such as the hypostatic union example) this book would have been a home run.
• Before I write too critically, I confess that few people, myself included, could do any better with such a novel concept. Challies is a talented writer with solid theology. Byers is a talented graphic artist with a great sense of content and style. But the book does not merit the title. More honest would be "Theology With Lots of Wordy Pictures". But to TITLE it "visual theology" is misleading at best and a poorly focused marketing trick at worst. The book does not satisfy. If you want a visual book, this one is not the title to buy. Slick marketing does not overcome the misleading title.
• Challies and Byers introduce Visual Theology by saying, “we live in a visual culture, increasingly relying on infographics and other visuals to help us understand new and difficult concepts.” Challies and Byers are spot on with this need and the first thing that struck me about their book is how aesthetically pleasing its production was. I try to buy as many books as I can via today, but was glad in retrospect to be unable to purchase this book in that medium. The book is well designed and even the feel of the pages makes a reader happy.
  
  That said, the title itself is a bit misleading. The book wasn't visual in the way I anticipated nor was it theology in the way I anticipated. Once I re-calibrated my expectations as I read the book I was much happier, but I do wonder if the title will make more readers than just myself surprised by the contents. The visuals are almost mostly word art, with some infographics thrown in. Depending on your tastes, this might be disappointing. It was to me. That isn't to say that some of the art isn't very helpful (Byers infographic on the books of the Bible with information about date of writing and authorship is fantastic, for one), but that at least to me a fair portion didn't inspire or lead me to a deepened understanding as I would have hoped.
  
  Likewise, Challies's writing (which he fully acknowledges) is not attempting to plunge deep, but rather sweeps through four basic categories of becoming and living as a Christian (1) Grow Close to Christ, (2) Understand the Work of Christ, (3) Become Like Christ, and (4) Live for Christ. Unsurprisingly given that division (but surprising to me given the title) the book is much more practical and basic than intellectual and historical.
  
  Far and away my favorite section was found in the first part of "Becoming Like Christ" where Challies as clearly as I've heard anywhere explains how we destroy sin in our lives. It is an excellent practical and succinct contemporization of John Owen's "Of The Mortification of Sin." This section alone makes the book well worth reading and using.
  
  I hope to use Visual Theology (particularly the section just mentioned) in counseling as well as in some introductory classes. Additionally, I hope the book finds its way into the hands of many as a first introduction to practical theology. Finally, I do hope for more books to be written in this vein. I would love to see, for instance, a book where Makoto Fujimura or Bruce Herman partnered with a theologian to provide a more abstract and contemplative take on the same premise.
• I am a visual person (hence my attraction to this book) and one thing in the writing style is a constant speed bump. The authors do not capitalize pronouns relating to the Godhead. I see lowercase he and I have to pause for a split second to mentally correct this and to double check that they are indeed referring back to God.
  
  The material is clear, consice and well written. The ideas are simplified for clarity be not watered down.
  
  There are not graphics for every idea or even every page. Each chapter has at least one chart, graph or other illustration and many have more than one but the majority of the information is conveyed in texts with the graphs functioning as references &/or sum nay. The text is well laid out, labeled with a color coded system for easy reference and to help sort and categorize the information.
  
  Overall, I am learning much and not only enjoying the format but also learning and retaining more because of the graphics.