Examples Of Interpreting Classic Bible Stories

Detailed and long stories do not usually flow well with young readers who tend to have short attention spans and low understanding levels, which can hinder them from learning the important lessons taught in the Bible. However, many authors have found ways around these issues by adapting Bible stories and lessons into a simplified and colorful format. Of course, this means that only a select number of stories are chosen and adapted, resulting in the young readers learning a portion of the Bible. Even so, many authors still manage to adapt most of the stories and emphasize the lessons. This example can be found in Lisa Caldwell’s adaption, the Classic Bible Story, which condenses the bible stories into easy-to-read, short paragraphs and detailed,

In order to engage the reader with the story, the Classic Bible Stories provides large detailed illustrations of the scene described. By giving a visual representation of the story, Lisa Caldwell can then focus on adapting the important lessons and let the illustrations tell the setting and mood that would otherwise be told in a block of text. For example, in “The Crucifixion”, the Classic Bible Stories describe “The sky grew dark…the earth shook and the temple curtain ripped in half from top to bottom” (Caldwell 138) and the Bible describes “From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over the whole land…the curtain of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom; the earth quaked and rocks were split” (Matthew 27: 45-50). Most readers can visualize the scene and understand it easily, but younger readers may have a harder time visualizing the scene, in which case the illustration for “The Crucifixion” could help them. This strategy allows the readers to easily understand the story and help them remember the story more with the illustrations. By using illustrations in the adaption, Lisa Caldwell draws the reader into the story and allows them to engage with the story told and remember the important

Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount messages teaches about a lot of different situations that many adults experience and how they should reach in the different scenarios (Matthew 5-7). However, in the adaption, Lisa gives her readers a brief introduction to the setting before going straight into the lesson, “Love Your Enemies”. In the book, the author uses simple diction and easy sentences for the reader. She also has Jesus’s message interrupted by a dialogue interaction between two people listening and questioning the message (Caldwell 96). Matthew simply writes down what Jesus said in his sermon, leaving out any of the questions or comments listeners at the message may have had. Lisa Caldwell’s decision to add a little more dialogue may have helped to break up the lesson a little so that the younger readers could easily understand the parts of the lesson. However, for new or unfamiliar readers, this summarized version for children may come across as the only message that Jesus spoke at the Mount when in reality the sermon goes through several different topics and how Jesus wants His people to react to different situations. Even so, the simplified version of the Classic Bible Story provides young readers an opportunity to learn and understand an important lesson that