Apologia's iWitness Book Series - Uncover the Truth! {a Crew Review}

As a Christian family, both Dad and I receive a lot of biblical questions from the kids. I’ve been asked everything from, “Did God make my cheese stick?” to “Where was the Garden of Eden?” . Some  questions are easy to answer, some, not so much. I am so thankful for companies like Apologia Educational Ministries who produce such helpful materials like the iWitness books. The three books, New Testament iWitness, Old Testament iWitness and iWitness Biblical Archaeology, are full of visually pleasing pages containing biblical truths. Having the right answers to the kids’ questions, whether they are two years old or a teenager, is imperative to creating and maintaining a Christian worldview. The books are at about an 11 year old reading level but make great read alouds.

I cannot convey the excitement that welled up within me as I opened the package from Apologia containing these books! I quickly scanned the pages and was immediately impressed. The pages don’t have your usual read left to right and top to bottom layout. Each page is filled with pieces of art, photos from times past, old biblical documents, archeological finds, and other things. Even the text itself is written in a special way. Each page has what looks like papyrus sheets containing the text, and the text font varies from sheet to sheet. It truly is beautiful!

We began with the Old Testament book. Immediately I knew I was  in over my head. I highly recommend having a Bible dictionary within reach when you go through these. Some of the names and places were new to me and I had no clue how to pronounce them, let alone read the book fluently aloud to my children!

The children and I were learning new facts immediately! It takes you on a journey to find out how the Bible came to be: where it came from, who wrote it, how it was copied down from generation to generation. It was neat to learn about the different techniques of copying the Bible (before it was the Bible we have today). We learned about the different scribes who had different rules and safeguards to maintain the original text- some of which were most stringent!

Do you know what a canon is? No, I don’t mean the thing used on ships and in wars to defeat the enemy (that’s a cannon). Before reading the Old Testament book, that was the only definition of the word I knew. The canon I am talking about is an authoritative list of books accepted as Holy Scripture. Learning how the canon of today’s Bible was very interesting!

The Old Testament book also covers the prophets- both minor and major, books of wisdom, a small bit of archaeology, a timeline and much more!

 

The New Testament book discusses some of the first bishops and theologians of Christianity. The New Testament canon is covered in great detail, like which books were kept and which were not considered worthy of the Bible we have today. Learning about the apostolic fathers was very interesting! What’s an apostolic father? They were the important church leaders and theologians who were alive before the death of the last apostle. The apostle John died around A.D 98, marking the end of the apostolic age.

 

 

How the New Testament came together is amazing. Through the centuries, persecution, deception and tyranny, it survived. And not only did it survive, it thrived… exactly as God would have it to be.

The Archaeology book was definitely my favorite of the three. I have always enjoyed reading and watching films about fossils and artifacts being found. Noah's ark and the exodus take up a good portion of the book and the information is fascinating! The book covers finds from both the Old and New Testaments. The Dead Sea scrolls and Jesus' burial shroud sections were very good as well.

Written and Designed by Doug Powel, each of these 9" x 6" books are beautifully created from cardstock-like paper, making them very sturdy. About 60 pages long, the books are available from Apologia for $14.00 each

My Bottom Line
The iWitness series is great for family discussions, read alouds or even used as a devotional. Of course reading them on your own or having your children read them is always an option too! These books will be pulled out again and again to reread. There is so much information that you'll want to take it slow and not rush through them. Possibly my favorite aspect of the series is that it simply provides the facts and lets you uncover the truth for yourself (great discussions with the kids!). I highly recommend this series for anyone looking to dig deeper into how the Bible came to be.

 

Connect with Apologia on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ !

 

Click the banner below read more Crew Reviews about the iWitness Series from Apologia!