A Review of The Ology

The Ology: Ancient Truths Ever New

Written by Marty Machowski and illustrated by Andy McGuire.

A pencil-drawn crown rests in the middle of the front cover of this book surrounded on four corners by the following: Top left: a giant squid holding a miniature NASA rocket. Top right: A mouse and a giraffe chat while a girl engrossed in reading sits below the squid, unaware of her possible impending doom. A PJ-clad boy sits opposite her ignoring the animal chat above him. A lovely cherry vine swirls across the entire cover. The title is The Ology. Is this a make-believe story? Why is this book on the shelf in our older kids’ Sunday School classroom?  Finally, I figure it out—Theology! Theology for children! Turns out this book has been around since 2015. This review will only help those of you, who were like me, oblivious to its existence, or did not have children six years ago

 This isn’t a Child’s Story Bible, even though it covers immense topics throughout Scripture. 

Rather, it’s a systematic theology for kids. Yes, you read that correctly. Systematic theology is the distillation and the organization of important, vital truths about God from Scripture. Some chapter titles are God, the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Salvation, Sin, Judgment, and the Church. Systematic theology was not my favorite seminary class, in part because it leans heavily on proof-texts—free-standing verses in Scripture. Machowski’s work gives that class a run for its money. He uses excellent examples and memorable pencil drawings to connect each theological point to a Scripture verse or two. I love that the verses he uses reflect these specific truths but often come from unexpected places in Scripture. In this way, he builds theological truths from the breadth of Scripture.

Theology is vital to our children’s faith. It’s the other side of the same coin in which they hold God’s great story throughout history from Creation to Rebellion to Redemption to Restoration. However, I believe children need to experience the scope of God’s grand story before they burrow down into theology. These truths need to rest not merely in supporting verses and sections of Scripture but in God’s story as a whole. Many times the author does this by referring to a story in Scripture. However, it is possible that the child has not heard that story previously and will have difficulty putting it in context. 

 But if we only told God’s stories, and I usually teach chronologically, some things get emphasized more than others. So, a book like The Ology is a great way to approach God’s Word from a different vantage point. I would use The Ology in a “mix and match” way. If a topic referred to a specific story in Scripture I might expand the topic for the next day and tell the Scripture story. Alternatively, after studying part of Genesis, I might refer to some theological topics in The Ology so to go a bit deeper into the biblical story while we discussed sin, or God’s Promises, for example. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with reading straight through The Ology as a devotional. But if your child is hungering for God’s stories, take a break and return to those. The Ology is a great reference text that you will use with your children for many years. 

The pencil illustrations are colorful, captivating, and not too juvenile. Some are humorous or puzzling—that squid and the NASA rocket illustrate that God is everywhere. He is at the bottom of the ocean and high in space. A worm-infested ice crème cone represents that we were adopted and chosen by God while we were “yucky, spoiled sinners.”  But for the most part, the images reflect everyday encounters such as a Bassett hound and an old shoe illustrating put off the old, and put on the new.” A magnet and a paperclip show that just as the paperclip has to cling to a magnet, so also God calls us to him. We cannot resist his grace. More than 10 songs produced by Sovereign Grace correspond to the book and are appropriate for upper elementary students and above.

The Ology. I’ve not seen a book like this. I recommend owning it and would mix and match it with God’s stories. I wish it had a corresponding curriculum, but clever teachers could create one. Again I’d teach a Scripture story and wed it to the theological teaching point(s) revealed in the story.