Some of the graphics in this book are difficult to understand. Yet, once you do, using this book alongside your Bible-reading becomes a very powerful study tool, and brought light to things I had difficulty grasping from just reading the text of the Bible. This is definitely not a replacement for the Bible, but when used as a supporting tool, it brings the Bible to life in an amazing way. Many books on systematic theology use the method of dividing God into two parts: God’s transcendent nature and God’s character. This chart type is used to visualize part-to-whole data; it works well here to show the categories and sub-categories of those parts used in the Bible to describe God. One of the hardest and most time-consuming parts of this project has been creating the data from scratch, which was the case for everything you see with the exception of 2 subjects. But that also meant I had the honour of working with some incredible people and biblical scholars to produce this data, often seeking people out specifically for subjects.

Billions of people across the world find solace, meaning and wisdom from reading the Bible. But for some, it can be a difficult book to engage with and understand. In this this pioneering book Karen Sawrey shows you the bible as you never seen it before, using powerful infographics, with data sourced by experts in their fields, to communicate the key biblical themes and narratives. The Info Graphic Bible focuses on the meta narrative, the key points of the major stories and themes, to give the reader insight into the bigger story and help you understand the complex or abstract themes in a relevant way. This graphic is full of life and hope; it’s one of the most powerful in the whole book because it reveals Jesus as the Messiah! It shows every messianic Old Testament prophecy and then how those were fulfilled in the New Testament. It’s the very thing that the Christian faith is based upon… and that’s what makes it so very exciting! In essence, these infographics solidify and reveal the truth of Mathew 5:17 (“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them”).Bible Gateway interviewed Karen Sawrey ( @karensawrey) about The Infographic Bible: Visualising the Drama of God’s Word (Zondervan, 2018), the 2019 Kantar Information is Beautiful Awards bronze award winner in the category of Arts, Entertainment, and Culture. Update: I re-read the book slowly and carefully and I could read all the text. So I bumped the rating up to 4 stars. The design also has meaning. The circles marking each prophecy are only outlined, and the circles for fulfillments are solid to reflect each prophecy has been completed. Colors are chosen to communicate Jesus’ presence, using the tones of spring and summer.

When I heard what it was my spirit just leapt! Not only was it in this visual language which is particularly helpful for those who are visual learners like me, it was to be part of a prestigious set of infographic books by HarperCollins but most of all it was about Jesus… unbelievably above and beyond what I ever dared to dream or hope or imagine!I simply could not have done this journey without a very real relationship with Jesus, Father God (who I call ‘our Dad’) and the wonderful Holy Spirit. The process began with gathering a team of people who would support the project and be the scaffold to allow an infographic to be created. That team included theological advisors, legal, admin, publishing and technical support as well as some training for me. illuminating how God’s strength, power, and love are revealed throughout the Bible’s overarching story

As we create with God we worship him and as we worship God creativity is released! AMAZING! It’s a wonderful and powerful cycle and relationship (see pp112-113). First, let me encourage you to buy this work of data art rather than rely on my brief review. That said, I recommended this book as a way to be inspired to be more creative. So, what examples did I have in mind? Well, let me share my photos of some infographics that inspired me & could help others visualising textual data. The plagues of Egypt meet snakes & ladders (p54)

Church Times/RSCM:

In this this pioneering book Karen Sawrey shows you the bible as you never seen it before, using powerful infographics, with data sourced by experts in their fields, to communicate the key biblical themes and narratives. The Infographic Bible focuses on the meta narrative, the key points of the major stories and themes, to give the reader insight into the bigger story and help you understand the complex or abstract themes in a relevant way. Through revealing the ancient traditions, showing connections between Old and New Testament themes, and profiling important characters, you are left with a deeper and more memorable interpretation of the scriptures. I had been designing & illustrating for HarperCollins for 9 years when they invited me to pitch for this project in 2013. HarperCollins had already published successful Infographic books like ‘Information is Beautiful’ by David McCandless and were considered industry leaders in this genre, their next step was to produce a Bible in this format! This was an unbelievable moment for me to be invited to pitch because usually, the author pursues the publisher, not the other way round. So much data visualisation these days is digital, it can be easy to overlook the power of physical objects & printed data viz. Plus, when I shared Prof Tufte’s challenge for us to see with fresh eyes, I doubt many of you were thinking about revisiting the Bible. The leaders Rhoda and Andy have been amazing in supporting and championing me at all costs. Rhoda played several roles in the project to support me including data contributor and supporter (see pp 86-87 for example). Karen Sawrey: Think about fitting a camel through the eye of a needle. That’s what I felt like I was doing!

Take a 1-minute survey to join our mailing list and receive a free ebook in the format of your choosing. Read on your preferred digital device, including smart phones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers. The infographics range from simple to complex, showing different levels of information. Look out for a key on the more complex ones to help you process that information. Remember that the graphics take the leading role with the text playing only a supportive one. This infographic is both playful (a key way to engage your audience) and represents lots of data prep to identify a matrix alignment of categories that matter most. The sunshine of Solomon’s wealth uses radial for impact (p94)The Infographic Bible: Visualizing the Drama of God’s Word” by Karen Sawrey is a marvelous new book from Zondervan. Unique and very impressive, the aim of “The Infographic Bible” is to help people understand the Bible through visual learning. In addition to the two parts of who God is, he’s wholly love whilst being holy and perfect at his core.