This semester in homeschool, we’ve started a new thing that I call “Theological Truth Thursday.”During our Bible time on Thursday mornings, I teach my children a theological term. They write it down, along with the definition, and we discuss its meaning and significance to our faith. We’ve discussed words like theology, omniscience, and justification.

Recently I had the opportunity to review a new children’s book called The Ology. It has been a perfect addition to what I am trying to accomplish with Theological Truth Thursday. This book is one of those books that families will read over and over and with one child to the next.

The Ology: Ancient Truths, Ever New is a picture book, written by Marty Machowski. You may be familiar with his other children’s books, Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God and Old Story New: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God. The Ology teaches children foundational theological truths in simple terms and in short chapters.

It begins with the story of a young boy and girl exploring around the cellar of an old church. They stumble across a book called The Ology. It is a long-forgotten book written for children to understand deep truths about God. They open its pages and begin reading the first chapter titled, “God Always Was and Always Will Be.”

Each chapter is one to three pages long and provides basic instruction in theological truths of the Christian faith.  There are seventy-one chapters in all, divided into eleven sections. Some of the sections include: The Ology of Sin, The Ology of Christ, The Ology of the Church, and The Ology of God’s Word.

From a chapter discussing God’s holiness:

“Is it possible to get close enough to the sun to scoop out a sample to bring home in a jar? Of course not, the sun’s surface is so hot is would burn you up before you even got close. While we know we can’t touch the sun, a lot of folks don’t understand that God’s holy light–his glory and holiness–shines brighter than the sun. Just like we can’t touch the sun, sinful people, still under judgment, can’t get near to our holy God” (p.85).

This beautifully illustrated book is intended to be used with children both in elementary school and in older grades as well. There is a parent guide with helpful suggestions for how to use the book with both young and older children. For older children, there are Bible passages provided in each chapter for further reading and study. There are discussion questions for each chapter at the end of the book as well. Each theological truth is explained using examples and illustrations that children understand. The images are engaging and pertinent to the chapter, but not distracting.

I do wish that the author had incorporated more of the terms we use for the theological concepts he describes. While he does define words such as “atonement” and “sanctification” he doesn’t use terms like omnipotence or omnipresence when he describes God as all-powerful and that he is everywhere.