I have currently have all three available volumes of the Word on Fire Bible. These are truly beautiful Bibles, if on the pricey side.
The Bible
Volume I includes the four Gospels, and comes in leather, hardcover, and paperback cover options. For this volume, I did go with the leather cover. I have the other two currently available in hardcover, and while the leather is much nicer, I’m not sure it is worth the price difference to me as the hardcover certainly works. I’ve also seen the paperback and I don’t think I’d pick that option as I’d be afraid of how fast it would fall apart.
It uses the New Revised Standard Version: Catholic Edition. I’m not up to date or opinionated about various translations, so this one works well for me. A few things did stand out, however, such as Matthew 4:19. Most translations I am used to render this as “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” This one reads “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” It isn’t a big deal but it doesn’t read quite right to me. That happened in a few other places, as well.
Otherwise, the text is a good size and easy to read. The Gospels are of course the Gospels, so no review needed there.
Essays and Quotes
It seems like every other page has commentary or essays to go along with what you are reading. Many are by Bishop Barron, of course, but there are several others. There are commentaries from the early church fathers and from across church history, including more recent times. Most are short and span only a half page, but there are more in depth essays spread throughout as well taking many pages. These are easy to identify so there’s no confusion with the Scripture. Each book has an introductory essay.
Art
This was the most unexpected part of the Bible for me, as I’m not typically an art person. There are full page depictions of art, with an essay or explanation on the opposite side. I found all of them to be beautiful and I had not previously seen many of them, including the one at the top of this post.
Last weekend, I was at a women’s conference with my church, and Katie Weiss was a speaker. Her topic was visio divina, which I’d never heard of. It is much like lectio divina, but uses art. I thought of this Bible during her talk and plan to make use of the technique moving forward. She was also a great speaker! I’ve included a video from the GIVEN Institute below.
Summary
This Bible is simply beautiful and a delight to read. I’m working on the third volume now and will post more thoughts on the second and third volume later, but I can say I already intend to buy the rest of the series.
The downsides include the price, but I guess everything is getting more and more expensive. I also do not see they have a large print available, which is something I do think about when shopping for my dad.
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