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Review: Visual Theology - Seeing and Understanding the Truth About God

Visual Theology book cover on blue background

Believe it or not, I first followed Tim Challies when I started blogging almost 20 years ago. At the time, he was known for keeping a continuous streak of blogging and providing meaningful content as one of the more prominent Christian bloggers (and as a Canadian, to boot!). I appreciated his book reviews as he provided a balanced approach in handling sticky theological concerns; this was when the emergent church was emerging (ha!) and Tim's blog provided a reprieve from all of that. When Tim started writing and publishing books, I was keen to add them to my bookshelves. Fast forward a few decades later, and he's probably quite well-known for many of his books, though I still enjoy his blog. Imagine my delight when a few years ago, I saw that he published a book called Visual Theology: Seeing and Understanding the Truth about God with Josh Byers.

Book Synopsis

We live in a visual culture. Today, people increasingly rely upon visuals to help them understand new and difficult concepts. The rise and stunning popularity of the Internet infographic has given us a new way in which to convey data, concepts and ideas.

But the visual portrayal of truth is not a novel idea. Indeed, God himself used visuals to teach truth to his people. The tabernacle of the Old Testament was a visual representation of man’s distance from God and God’s condescension to his people. Each part of the tabernacle was meant to display something of man’s treason against God and God’s kind response. Likewise, the sacraments of the New Testament are visual representations of man’s sin and God’s response. Even the cross was both reality and a visual demonstration.

As teachers and lovers of sound theology, Challies and Byers have a deep desire to convey the concepts and principles of systematic theology in a fresh, beautiful and informative way. In this book, they have made the deepest truths of the Bible accessible in a way that can be seen and understood by a visual generation.

Source: Amazon

Book Thoughts

The prominence of infographics and information in digestible formats in this book not only lends itself well to visual learners, but also creates an easily transmissible way to share the Gospel. In Visual Theology, the beautiful images portraying the truths of God are carefully laid out under the sections of: growing close to Christ, understanding the work of Christ, becoming like Christ, and living for Christ. What I appreciate most about this book is that it takes intellectual knowledge and transfers it into life-changing beliefs and behaviours. The end goal of theology is not just to accumulate information; it is to know Jesus and to be changed by Him to become more like Him. As 1 Corinthians 8:1 states, "But knowledge puffs up while love builds up."

This book is clear in that by understanding more of God's nature, our hearts will draw nearer to Him. Not only does Visual Theology delve into the personal areas of our lives like our vocation and our relationships, it all points back to how God has created us and how we reflect His image. To make the leap from systematic theology to personal application by simplifying and clarifying theological teachings in understandable terms is in short, a transformative experience. Knowing that there is sense and order in how God has revealed Himself in our study of theology makes this book a visual treat to pick up. For readers that appreciate having graphics depict information, this book delivers. Readers who want more of this type of book will be glad to know that the next book in this set, A Visual Theology Guide to the Bible: Seeing and Knowing God's Word, has even more visuals! 

Book Summary

  • Format of book: 📖
  • Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Recommendation: 👍
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