Scott Bayles recently published a new book: Holy Heroes of the Bible. This is the third book in his Holy Heroes series. The first book, Holy Heroes: The Gospel According to DC and Marvel, looked at many superheroes and found Biblical connections in their stories and character arcs. His second, The Holy Heroes Devotional, is a 40 day devotional that compares various comic book characters with Biblical themes. You might recognize his name if you have read my latest book The Fantastic 42: A Fellowship Facing Doom with Hope. Scott had 7 entries in that as well and yes, most of them are superheroes.
Now, with Holy Heroes of the Bible, Scott flips the script from his other offerings and looks more directly at Bible characters. As the Introduction of the book states, DC and Marvel give us fictional heroes. The Heroes of the Bible are historical. Here is some of his explanation:
They didn’t wear spandex or fly around in capes. They didn’t inspire action figures, cartoon shows, or summer blockbusters. They weren’t perfect, and they didn’t become heroes because they got bitten by a radioactive spider or exposed to gamma rays. Instead, they were ordinary people, like you and me. Yet, God empowered these holy heroes and heroines to execute jaw-dropping miracles, conquer mighty armies, topple giants, save entire nations, and proclaim the good news of God’s salvation in the face of certain death.
Scott Bayles, Holy Heroes of the Bible, Pg. viii.
I read the first 4 chapters of the book this weekend and found it quite enjoyable. He combines comic book alliteration with the traditional 3 points preaching style. I’ll admit the three point style gets a bit old to me, but it is useful because it makes the lessons easier to sink in and remember.
The first four heroes you learn about are God, Abel, Noah and Abraham. Chapter 1 shows us God’s creative ability and his mercy toward Adam and Eve. Chapter 2 shows us the much of the first murder and discusses why Abel’s offering was better than Cain’s offering (spoiler alert; it is more about the givers than the physical offering). Chapter 3 focuses on Noah’s response to a calling that made no sense in a world where everyone was out for themselves. Chapter 4 looks at Abraham’s faith in God during some difficult expectations. The book will go on to discuss many other heroes of the faith including Moses, Gideon, Mary, Jesus, etc.
In all of this there are constant comparisons to our fictional heroes of the modern age. The four chapters I read included references to Superman, Professor X and Juggernaut, Jason Todd, Batman and even one of Scott’s favored comic book creators Dan Jurgen.
This will be fun for both comic book fans and Christians, but doubly great if you are both a follower of Jesus and a comic book fan. To buy the book visit the Amazon page. You might be able to find him at a comic con in the Midwest as the leader and founder of the Christian cosplay group Costumers for Christ.