Bible Story Teachings: A Survey of Children’s Bible Stories about Creation in 19^th Century Britain

Abstract

Every retelling of a story is an interpretation, and children’s Bible stories are no exception. This paper analyzes changes made to the Biblical story of creation in a collection of thirteen Bible stories published in 19^th century Britain. The aim of this paper is to answer two questions: what purpose did the story of creation serve in Bible stories in 19^th century Britain, and what changes were made to the story to serve this purpose? Common themes and changes made to the Bible stories discussed here suggest that the story was told to children for various reasons. For many, the creation narrative was used to familiarize young children with the story, and changes were aimed to simplify the story. For others, the original sin was closely tied to Jesus’ atonement, and in stories that stress this, Jesus often shows up as an additional character. Moreover, many versions of this story add lessons to impart moral or didactic advice to their audience. Overall, analyzing changes made to children’s Bibles stories reveals how authors changed the story of creation to influence their intended audiences.

Keywords:

• Biblical reception history
• Bible stories
• Genesis 1-3
• 19^th century
• religious literature
• children’s literature
• Britain

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the staff at the Osborne Collection from the Toronto Public library, and at the W. D. Jordan Special Collections at Queen’s University who graciously pulled many examples of religious children’s literature and children’s Bible stories for my viewing. I would also like to thank Dr. Marion Taylor at Wycliffe College who graciously allowed me to sit in her office for a whole day and look at her incredible collection of women’s writings on the Bible.