Visual Theology

Loved the content and visuals presented in Visual Theology by Tim Challies and Josh Byers.  It is a uniquely appealing volume presenting an intro into systematic theology.

Favorite Quotes

  1. As we grow close to Christ and as we grow in our knowledge of his work, we will find ourselves with a longing to become like him (14).
  2. We never move past the gospel and never advance beyond it (21).
  3. You are in Christ.  He is your deepest identity (32).
  4. As the Bible tells the grand story of what God is doing in the world, it tells us how he is doing it through Jesus.  Jesus is on every page of the Bible (47).
  5. This drama unfolds in four acts: creation, fall, redemption, and new creation (67).
  6. When you study doctrine, you are really studying God himself, and to know God is to love him.  Your love for God is limited by your knowledge of him (80).
  7. And for the rest of your life, you are learning to stop acting like the dead man you were and to start acting like the living man you are, to stop thinking like the dead man you were and to start thinking like the living man you are (93).
  8. This is the consistent teaching of the New Testament: When you stop one behavior, you must begin another (112).
  9. No matter what your vocations are, they all carry the same great purpose: to do good to others and bring glory to God (122).
  10. The Bible is a book about relationships.  This is not unexpected, since in the Bible a relational God gives his self-revelation to relational beings (129).
  11. The principle of stewardship is built on two simple premises: God owns it, and you manage it (141).
  12. You are a Christian only because other Christians were faithful stewards of the gospel (151).

Book Overview

Vision Theology: Seeing and Understanding the Truth About God.

We live in a visual culture. Today, people increasingly rely upon visuals to help them understand new and difficult concepts. The rise and stunning popularity of the Internet infographic has given us a new way in which to convey data, concepts and ideas.

But the visual portrayal of truth is not a novel idea. Indeed, God himself used visuals to teach truth to his people. The tabernacle of the Old Testament was a visual representation of man’s distance from God and God’s condescension to his people. Each part of the tabernacle was meant to display something of man’s treason against God and God’s kind response. Likewise, the sacraments of the New Testament are visual representations of man’s sin and God’s response. Even the cross was both reality and a visual demonstration.

As teachers and lovers of sound theology, Challies and Byers have a deep desire to convey the concepts and principles of systematic theology in a fresh, beautiful and informative way. In this book, they have made the deepest truths of the Bible accessible in a way that can be seen and understood by a visual generation.