Princess theology gone wrong
/
A couple weeks ago I defended one princess-inspired children’s book. Today I’m telling you not to bother with another, My Princess Bible
by Andy Holmes and illustrated by Sergey Eliseev.
The difference?
My previous review was of a book that is princess-oriented but Christ-focused and Gospel-saturated. My Princess Bible is princess-focused, with
Christ as a secondary character to the princesses and sin nowhere to be found. I suppose that’s good because – in a Bible with no Savior – sin would be mighty depressing, though I would prefer one with this truth: that there is ugly sin in this world and in our hearts but – praise God! – there’s also a beautiful Savior!
This would have been more aptly titled something like The Stories of God’s Princesses because that’s really what it is. Each gal from God’s Word has a rhyming description, an illustration, references for the verses associated with the story, and a takeaway for girls. In the description on Amazon, it states,
The only references to Jesus are to the baby born to Mary (with Mary as the focal point in the story), the child prayer for by Anna (once again, focus on Anna), the man who acknowledged a poor woman’s offering of meager coins, the man whose feet were washed with perfume, the man who looked into the heart of the woman at the well, the man who healed Jairus’s daughter, and the One to whom Lydia could pray.
He’s a Jesus who is no different from the one that is presented by religions other than Christianity: a skilled teacher, a healer, an all-around good guy, someone who inspired others. A savior, though? The Sovereign Lord? The Prince who makes the royalty of the princess possible? None of those things are emphasized.
The cross? Not here. (Of course, it’s unnecessary if there’s no fall or sin.)
The resurrection? No. (Once again, why does Jesus need to rise from the dead if our sin never gave Him reason to die?)
The Gospel? Absent. Sadly, sadly absent.
In the absence of sin and a Savior, this is all about the behavior of princesses rather than their hearts. Girls will learn two things: that “I am God’s special princess” (without any explanation of how one enters the kingdom, which makes that a false promise for many children who will read it because they don’t yet know or treasure the King) and that princesses behave (for example, a princess “is happy to be a good helper,” “asks for help when she needs it,” is good to her family and friends,” “obeys God and sings him a song,” and so on). It’s all about the princess with little emphasis on the King. It gives no hope to cling to when the princess doesn’t behave. How very sad and lacking.
I may be extreme and a bit crazy, but – because Jocelyn already likes the book and because I don’t mind the stories (not great, but not bad either, especially because she knows the story of the fall already) – I defaced, er, altered the cover.
There. That’s a little better.
My sincere thanks goes to Tyndale House for providing this book for my review. They asked for nothing but an honest review.
by Andy Holmes and illustrated by Sergey Eliseev. The difference?
My previous review was of a book that is princess-oriented but Christ-focused and Gospel-saturated. My Princess Bible is princess-focused, with Christ as a secondary character to the princesses and sin nowhere to be found. I suppose that’s good because – in a Bible with no Savior – sin would be mighty depressing, though I would prefer one with this truth: that there is ugly sin in this world and in our hearts but – praise God! – there’s also a beautiful Savior!This would have been more aptly titled something like The Stories of God’s Princesses because that’s really what it is. Each gal from God’s Word has a rhyming description, an illustration, references for the verses associated with the story, and a takeaway for girls. In the description on Amazon, it states,
Each story ends with two lines that remind the reader of valuable character traits of a princess; the little princesses are even encouraged to recite the learning of the biblical princess using her name in the blank instead: “________ is God’s special princess; ________ is sad when she does something bad” (the takeaway from the story of Eve).I don’t know if that’s from the pre-print version or what, but the one in my lap says “__________ is God’s special princess. ____________ takes care of God’s world.” as the Eve takeaway, because her story ends before the fall. As I said before, sin doesn’t exist in this “Bible.”
The only references to Jesus are to the baby born to Mary (with Mary as the focal point in the story), the child prayer for by Anna (once again, focus on Anna), the man who acknowledged a poor woman’s offering of meager coins, the man whose feet were washed with perfume, the man who looked into the heart of the woman at the well, the man who healed Jairus’s daughter, and the One to whom Lydia could pray.
He’s a Jesus who is no different from the one that is presented by religions other than Christianity: a skilled teacher, a healer, an all-around good guy, someone who inspired others. A savior, though? The Sovereign Lord? The Prince who makes the royalty of the princess possible? None of those things are emphasized.
The cross? Not here. (Of course, it’s unnecessary if there’s no fall or sin.)
The resurrection? No. (Once again, why does Jesus need to rise from the dead if our sin never gave Him reason to die?)
The Gospel? Absent. Sadly, sadly absent.
In the absence of sin and a Savior, this is all about the behavior of princesses rather than their hearts. Girls will learn two things: that “I am God’s special princess” (without any explanation of how one enters the kingdom, which makes that a false promise for many children who will read it because they don’t yet know or treasure the King) and that princesses behave (for example, a princess “is happy to be a good helper,” “asks for help when she needs it,” is good to her family and friends,” “obeys God and sings him a song,” and so on). It’s all about the princess with little emphasis on the King. It gives no hope to cling to when the princess doesn’t behave. How very sad and lacking.
I may be extreme and a bit crazy, but – because Jocelyn already likes the book and because I don’t mind the stories (not great, but not bad either, especially because she knows the story of the fall already) – I defaced, er, altered the cover.
There. That’s a little better.
My sincere thanks goes to Tyndale House for providing this book for my review. They asked for nothing but an honest review.