Children's Bible

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A children's Bible contains a selection of biblical texts that are written in a simplified language compared to the original and are usually supplemented by illustrations.

History of the Children's Bible

As early as the Middle Ages , the opinion prevailed that the Bible in its entirety was not suitable for young people. One of the first children's Bibles was written by Josua Opitz around 1570. In the years that followed, biblical texts for children were more and more often edited in an age-appropriate manner. In the 16th to 18th centuries, theological and pedagogical aspects were in the foreground when processing Bible texts. A well-known example of this is the children's Bible by the Reformed theologian Johannes Melchior . The authors gave themselves a lot of freedom in terms of language and choice of texts. This changed in the 19th century when more emphasis was placed on adhering more strictly to the given biblical texts. Now the prevailing opinion was that the divine work had revealed itself in a certain word, and therefore the biblical story should only be told with the biblical word (Prussian Regulatory, 1854). Selected stories were supplemented by instructive sections. Examples of this are the school Bibles by Georg Thudichum (1870) and R. Hoffmann (1887). A model for many of the children's Bibles that followed was the work “Two meals two and fifty selected Biblical Histories” (1714) by Johann Huebner , which was particularly popular in Protestant Germany. For Hübner, the Bible was more like a history book and accordingly he selected sections in which a lot happened and which were designed to be realistic. A special iconography on biblical topics for children developed relatively late. Especially during the Romantic era , biblical images for children were increasingly being created. Kees de Kort developed his own “biblical imagery for children” for the first time .

distribution

Since 1979, 50 million copies of the children's Bible with the name God speaks to his children have been distributed in 172 languages ​​in 140 countries.

Children's Bible as a separate genre

Criteria according to which children's Bibles can be distinguished and characterized are:

  • the selection can be minimalist and limited to a few core texts and central biblical narratives or attempt to reproduce the diversity of biblical books ;
  • the chosen level of language can be geared towards certain age groups (children of pre-school or elementary school age); The children's Bible can also be designed as a book to be read aloud or to be read by yourself ;
  • the texts in children's Bibles can either be closely based on the biblical model or integrated into a free retelling (e.g. Jörg Zink or Winfried Pioch).
  • the images can dominate, so that one can almost speak of a picture book with biblical texts, or they take a back seat and only serve as an illustration or loosening up.

There are sometimes considerable conceptual differences between the various children's Bibles. An objective quality assessment is difficult due to different educational and theological points of view. Therefore, it is scientifically more appropriate to speak of assessments rather than assessments.

In the German-speaking area , Bible editions specially designed for children first appeared in significant numbers during the Enlightenment and Pietism . The genre has evolved and branched out over time - influenced by changing pedagogical and theological views. Today there are several dozen children's Bibles (approx. 220 current ones since 1955!) On the market at the same time, which makes the overview and the selection difficult, not only for laypeople.

For more than a decade, a group of religious educators from Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary and Switzerland has been researching the genre of the children's Bible. Their work is referred to in the references. In addition, the Borromäusverein or the German Bible Society try to provide parents and (religious) educational professionals with selection criteria for children's Bibles through recommendations and comparisons. However, the decision is sometimes already made for the parents instead of making them competent for a good assessment.

But not here considered generically the children's Bibles primarily designed as teaching materials and school Bibles Bible related books , Bibles in youth language (like the Volxbibel ) and children's books to individual biblical stories and religious topics. Audiobooks on children's Bibles, multimedia or digital children's Bibles and children's Bibles created by children (e.g. Belmer or Children's Bible , Seßen Children's Bible or Wandsbeck Children's Bible ) are also not taken into account .

In the personalized book segment , individual children's Bibles are available on the market, in a variant also as personalized christening Bibles with prayers, baptismal sayings and photos for baptism.

Selection of children's Bibles

Important recent children's Bibles

The children's Bibles listed here are repeatedly referred to in the secondary literature and they are usually still available. In the names of the authors, those responsible for the text are first named, followed by the illustrators, separated by a slash. Since recognized children's Bibles are reprinted relatively often, the number of copies and the year of publication are not given.

Other titles

Some of the publications mentioned here are still too young to be included in the "Canon", while others are not children's Bibles in the strict sense of the word.

literature

  • Reinmar Tschirch: Bible for Children. The children's Bible in church, parish, school and family. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [a. a.] 1995, ISBN 3-17-013093-5 .
  • Gottfried Adam (Ed.): Children's and School Bibles. Problems of their exploration. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1999, ISBN 3-525-61356-3 .
  • Gottfried Adam, Rainer Lachmann, Regine Schindler (eds.): The Old Testament in children's Bibles - a didactic challenge in the past and present. Theological Publishing House, Zurich 2003, ISBN 3-290-17253-8 .
  • Ruth B. Bottigheimer, Martina Steinkühler: Eva bit with sacrilege. Critical work with children's Bibles in school and community . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-525-61551-5 .
  • Ortkemper, Franz-Josef: The Stranger from Nazareth: Jesus Christ in Children's Bibles (= Hans-Gerd Wirtz [Hrsg.]: Writings on the international cultural and spiritual world . Volume 20 ). Bertuch-Verlag, Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-937601-06-6 .
  • Gottfried Adam, Rainer Lachmann, Regine Schindler (eds.): Illustrations in children's Bibles. From Luther to the Internet . IKS, Jena 2005, ISBN 3-938203-08-0 .
  • Reiner Andreas Neuschäfer: Bringing the Bible into play with children's Bibles. Ideas, information and impulses for the community, school and home . IKS, Jena 2005, ISBN 3-938203-12-9 .
  • Irene Renz: Children's Bibles as a theological-pedagogical challenge. With reference to the analytical psychology according to CG Jung (=  work on religious education . Volume 28 ). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-89971-278-1 .
  • Herbert Stangl, Dorothee Hölscher: Growing with the Bible. Children's Bibles in Comparison. Borromäusverein, Bonn 2006, ISBN 3-920126-16-5 .
  • Gabriele Kassenbrock / Mathias Jeschke (edit.): Recommended children's Bibles , German Bible Society, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-438-06613-8 .
  • Gottfried Adam / Rainer Lachmann / Regine Schindler (eds.): The contents of children's Bibles. Criteria of their selection . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2008, (Work on Religious Education, Volume 37) ISBN 978-3-89971-489-0 .
  • Michael Landgraf : Children's Bible then - today - tomorrow. Neustadt 2009, ISBN 978-3-941920-00-2 .
  • Thomas Nauerth: Learning to think fabulously. Contours of biblical didactics using the example of the children's Bible (=  work on religious education . Volume 42 ). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-89971-729-7 .
  • Christine Reents / Christoph Melchior: The story of the children's and school Bible, Protestant - Catholic - Jewish . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, (work on religious education, volume 48) ISBN 978-3-89971-837-9 .
  • Thomas Schlag, Robert Schelander, Gottfried Adam, Rainer Lachmann, Martin Rothgangel (eds.): Morals and ethics in children's Bibles. Children's Bible research from a historical and religious pedagogical perspective (=  work on religious pedagogy . Volume 46 ). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-89971-813-3 .
  • Georg Langenhorst / Elisabeth Naurath (eds.): Kindertora - Children's Bible - Children's Quran. New opportunities for (inter) religious learning . Freiburg, Basel, Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-451-37660-3 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christine Reents: Children's Bibles. Images from woodcuts to comics. Evangelical - Catholic - Jewish. Isensee-Verlag, Oldenburg 2012, p. 107 or 18.
  2. ↑ Christine Reents: Bibles in Comparison , in: JuLit 40 (2014), no. 3, p. 19.
  3. ↑ Record: Children's Bible in 172 languages. In: livenet.ch . July 30, 2012, accessed February 19, 2020 .