A Book Review from Books At a Glance
by Kristin Stiles
Jonathan Gibson and Timothy Brindle have added a fourth title to their Acrostic Theology for Kids Series: The Acrostic of Scripture. As with their acrostics on God, Jesus, and Salvation, these authors again combine twenty-six theological truths (one for each letter of the alphabet) with lyrical lines that are fun to read aloud and even more fun to listen to Timothy Brindle rap on your favorite music streaming app.
In this most recent book, Gibson and Brindle predominantly take concepts, characters, objects, and settings from the Old Testament and after a brief definition or description relate them to their fulfillment in or relevance to Christ and the New Testament. Each entry ranges in length from four to eight lines of verse. Beneath this section, they have provided Bible verses that directly reference the key word and support the relationship they have proposed between the Old and New Covenants. The opposite page contains the corresponding letter illustrated in a way that reflects the key word.
There is much that commends this series but more this specific book. Overall, I appreciate the simple explanations that are clear to the 5–11-year-old audience that is targeted. There is a wealth of information contained in these books. I love the concept of making this information memorable both with the use of acrostics and also the rhyme scheme. Listening to Timothy Brindle perform these with background music and percussion is especially enjoyable and will certainly aid kids who like hip-hop style music in remembering these truths. Specific to this book, I appreciate the connections that the authors make. Too often the stories in the Old Testament are presented as stand-alone accounts, but here there is a richness in seeing the themes and patterns that God is weaving together through Scripture as a whole. Exposing your children to not only the books, but the accompanying audio would be a wonderful step toward building up their theological knowledge and is certainly a means of grace that God could use to draw your child to Himself.
Kristin Stiles is a home-school mom, a Sunday School teacher, and helps lead the “Young, Reading, & Reformed” children’s ministry at Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia, PA.