The Holy Bible: Mosaic
(New Living Translation)
Hardcover: 1340 pages
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1414322038
ISBN-13: 978-1414322032
Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
Buy Here: Amazon.com

Thanks to Laura Bartlett, Keith Williams and Tyndale House Publishing for sending me a copy to review!

“On our own we are little more than bits of stone and glass. Together we are the body of Christ” – From “Mosaic User’s Guide,” pg M-9.

I’m not a fan of devotional Bibles. They tend to be extremely kitschy, particular to a specific culture and time, and thus useless to anyone else at any other time. They can prey on the individualism of our culture. And usually, they simply rip a verse (sometimes half of a verse) out of context, and give some morale boosting ditty that may or may not have to do with the already-out-of-context verse.

The Holy Bible: Mosaic (HB:M), put out by Tyndale House Publishers and Credo Communications, shatters each of these concerns and gives us a unique and beautiful product that is sure to make a great addition to any bookshelf.

The HB:M is not your typical devotional Bible. The concept behind it is that it seeks to connect readers to 2,000 years of church history and church expressions from every continent. I’m most excited about these aspects of the HB:M because, if read and used correctly, could help serve as a much needed antidote to the hyper-individualization of cultural Christianity. The HB:M is divided into two major sections, the devotional material and the Bible text. This review will focus on the first section.

Aesthetics
The HB:M is gorgeous. That was my initial reaction upon opening up the mail package I received the Bible in. From the beautiful hard cover (pictured above) to the typography, the artistic imagery on the title page to the cross imagery at the top of the devotional pages, the HB:M is quite possibly one of the most gorgeous Bibles I’ve ever seen. I said this about the NLT Study Bible last year, and that is still true, but in an artistic sense of aesthetics the HB:M are far above other modern Bibles.

One of the features for each weekly devotional is some sort of artwork that goes with the theme for each week (see Features below). These range from photographs by NT Scholar Doug Moo (the current featured artwork at the time of writing this, Pentecost Week 20) to the familiar bread and fish mosaic from 380 AD to lesser known works from China, Mexico and other areas. These might just be my favorite part of the Bible, as I have lamented elsewhere about the loss of artistic vision in the Church today.

Another aesthetic feature is the use of different paper for the devotional material from the Biblical text. This has a very important reasoning behind it: it maintains the designation of the Bible text as God’s word, and the devotional as man’s (as mentioned in Rick’s review and in Keith William’s video).

Features
As mentioned, the Bible is in two parts: devotional material and bible text. The devotional material is in the form of weekly reflections, all based around the liturgical church year. There are several elements to each weekly devotional:
Artwork – as I mentioned in the previous sections, this just might be one of my favorite features of this Bible. These come in different forms, including painting, actual mosaics, and photography. Some are bold with color (see the Mosaic from Church of the Resurrection of Christ on page M-26), while others are dark and muted (see Tianigi by Somoan contemporary, Michel Tuffery, pg M-267). All are beautiful expressions of faith captured in ways that mere words might fail us.

Scripture – this would be obvious, but as a highlight, the Scriptures used weekly are not like most devotionals, with a verse or part of a verse with no contexts. The suggested readings come from various liturgical readings for that week, and are centered around a theme. This week’s theme (i.e. as I’m writing this) is “Creativity,” and has Mark 7:31-8:10, a text which shows Jesus’ sovereignty over his own creation, a creation which expresses the creativity of God, present in us in the Imago Dei.

Meditations – Each week has an original devotional thought, written specifically for the HB:M by a contributor. These serve to connect “the weekly theme to the modern world.”

Historical and Global Contributions – These include quotes, hymns, prayers, and poetry from Christian thinkers throughout church history. The purpose of these contributions is for further meditation, but also to place the reader squarely within the historical story of God, to join our story with the story of those who came before us.

Space for your own reflection- Some blank lines are given for the reader to contribute their own reflection or meditation to that week.

After these devotionals are the two Tesserae, which are a mosaic-themed concordance to all the devotional material. Tesserae are the “small pieces of marble, glass, or tile” which make up a mosaic, and that is how the tesserae sections work as well. The first gives us a list of each week in the previous section, its theme, and the bibliography, artist/person, and title of every work that appears for that week. The second is a “Chronological Tesserae,” and lists each of the pieces that comprise the devotional material according to century. For example, from the 1st Century, we have a qoute from Clement 1, Ovid, and Philo Judeus.

Using the Bible
I have been using the HB:M as a devotional resource with my wife. Each night, we take one of the Scripture readings for the week, and one of the pages of reflection materials. I absolutely recommend this usage for everyone.

The HB:M lists several other possible usages as well. Of course, it could be used liturgically , but it can also be used thematically, organically (e.g., along with whatever regular Bible reading plan the reader may be using), or just however the reader can imagine. Here’s what is said about reading it “organically:”

“Many readers will still want to follow their regular plan for Bible reading, and Holy Bible: Mosaic can also be used along with it. As you read through the Bible, icons with page numbers will point you to devotional material where the passages you’re reading are referenced. Follow those references and allow the meditations to contribute depth and color to your regular reading plan.” Pg. M-12

This is a excellent idea and a creative link between the devotional material and the Biblical text.

Analysis
As I said, the HB:M is absolutely gorgeous. The artwork, photography, and non-devotional imagery all work together really well to be a beautiful whole.

The mosaic name and theme is excellent. It gives a nice unity to the whole project, and I can’t think of a better expression of the Church that Jesus died for. Reading through the various pieces in the devotionals, I can’t help but think of Revelation 7:9, “After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb.”

The devotionals themselves are excellent, with themes such as “Active Anticipation,” “The Kingdom of God,” “Sin and Death,” and “Possessions” (which happens to be next week, the artwork Resisting the Empire by Jeremy Collins is fantastic!). The only complaint I have is with the size of the space for personal reflection. The number of lines differ each week, and almost seem to be a space-filler, which makes me think “after-thought.” Even the more generous weeks, offering the most space, don’t really have the space I would need to put down my reflections. At the same time, I tend to be much more long-winded than others, so this might also be a personal issue that others wouldn’t think twice about.

The material comes from a very broad perspective of Evangelicalism, which some might object to (Brian McLaren has a quote in the same week as the Book of Common Prayer). I, however, find it to be very refreshing, because it introduces me to other traditions that I am unfamiliar with, and perspectives on the Scripture that is foreign to my world-view. This isn’t to say that I think there are several interpretations to Scripture (far from it!) but that others may see the same meaning from a different perspective than I (most obviously, an eastern, communal view instead of a western individualistic view).

I whole-heartedly recommend the Holy Bible:Mosaic, and celebrate it’s commitment to the historical and world-wide body of Christ. I also celebrate it’s use of art and aesthetics. Hopefully, the Bible will serve as a starting point of getting others interested into a study of Church history and historical theology, as well as a renewed interest in the arts. Either way, the Holy Bible:Mosaic is an excellent resource, and a welcomed addition to my bookshelf.

You can purchase the Holy Bible:Mosaic at Amazon.com