Monday, July 1, 2013

Dinosaurs in the Bible

While preparing this week's Vintage Dinosaur Art post, I was struck by how the illustrations were reminiscent of those in a certain other book that I'd owned as a child. A book that I hadn't seen for a long time, but was sure that I still had stashed away in a dark corner of my wardrobe. Eventually, it dawned on me...it was an illustrated Bible that I'd been given for my christening in 1988.

Hang on - didn't that Bible have dinosaurs in it? I just had to go and check it out - and oh yes, it has dinosaurs all right.


Well, OK, it has a Burianesque amphibious brachiosaur, sharing its habitat with a black marine reptile thingy and some pterosaurs (one of which is unmistakably Pteranodon). They pop up while the book's main character, a sort of all-powerful supernatural lunatic, is poofing things into existence as is his wont. There's no mention of them anywhere in the text (excepting birds, obviously), which is essentially a light simplification of the King James version (this isn't an attempt to lure in the kids by some Ken Ham-alike).

Furthermore, this is the only appearance made by any prehistoric animals in the entire book; there are no banana-munching tyrannosaurs gambolling in the Garden of Eden, nor any distressed-looking Triceratops being swept up in the swirling waters of a global flood. Nor, indeed, are the angels depicted as pterosaurs, although they should have been. And that's what's wonderful about these beasties - they're here apropos of nothing.

I should probably get back to that other book, though. See you later in the week!

6 comments:

  1. Oh wow, I remember that Bible! Eve was pretty hot. (Also blonde, which is weird.)

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    1. You sure? That seems to be her on the bottom of the page and she looks brunette to me.

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    2. The illustrations are not consistent -- I'm thinking of her full-page portrait.

      Also, in that one she's still white, which is also weird.

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    3. Don't want to get all racial-profiling on ya, but traditional depictions of Jesus and his mother also don't look like what you'd expect based on their ethnic heritage. I guess Christians feel more comfortable committing idolatry when they're bowing down to graven images of West European-looking deities.

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    4. Well, West Europeans aren't the only ones who do this. 21 Jump Street has a pretty funny scene with Korean Jesus.

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  2. Wow I had this bible as a kid! And that was my favorite page, cause of the animals and cause Genesis 'explained' where everything came from. And then I grew up and started going to college for Biology, lol.

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