Unofficial New Testament for Minecrafters

Christopher Miko, Garrett Romines

Description

Since 2009, Minecraft has taken the gaming world by storm. Now hugely popular with children, those familiar with the phenomenon will love this new world and the adventures of God's people. Garrett Romines, and Christopher Miko; skilled in using games and toys to create fun learning environments and products for children, have re-created Bible stories with the famous virtual blocks to produce vibrant, and complex 3-D worlds filled with adventure and using astonishing imagination. The images have been captured and combined with text boxes and speech bubbles to explain the stories for 7-11 year olds. The text is light, but explains the events thoroughly for the age group, and the dialogue includes in-game humour.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Lion Hudson
• Date de parution: 21 octobre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780745980034
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

Extrait

This book is not authorized or sponsored by Microsoft Corporation, Mojang AB, Notch Development AB, or Scholastic Corporation, or any other person or entity owning or controlling rights in the Minecraft name, trademark, or copyrights.
I would like to dedicate this book to my loving wife, Lindsey. She endured me making it during the first year of our marriage. God bless her.
Chris
I give glory to God in the highest praise for his blessings upon me, and to my friend and coauthor, Chris Miko.
Garrett
Text copyright © 2016 Christopher Miko and Garrett Romines
Illustrations copyright © 2016 Christopher Miko and Garrett Romines
This edition copyright © 2016 Lion Hudson
The right of Christopher Miko and Garrett Romines to be identified as
the authors and illustrators of this work has been asserted by them in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published by Lion Books
an imprint of
Lion Hudson plc
Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road,
Oxford OX2 8DR, England
www.lionhudson.com/lion
ISBN 978 0 7459 6889 6 (box set)
ISBN 978 0 7459 6889 6 (Export-only edition)
e-ISBN 978 0 7459 6890 2 (Old Testament)
e-ISBN 978 0 7459 8003 4 (New Testament)
Original edition published by Sky Pony Press, 307 West 36th Street,
11th Floor, New York, NY 10018
This edition 2016
Acknowledgments
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Minecraft ® is a registered trademark of Notch Development AB.
The Minecraft ® game is copyright © Mojang AB.
CONTENTS
MEET THE AUTHORS
vi
FOREWORD
viii
THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
1
THE BIRTH OF JESUS
12
THE ESCAPE TO EGYPT
19
THE BOY JESUS AT THE TEMPLE
31
JESUS GOES ABOUT HIS
FATHERÕS WORK
41
JESUS TURNS WATER INTO WINE
49
JESUS AND THE LIVING WATER
54
JESUS HEALS THE SICK
61
JESUS HEALS ON THE SABBATH
85
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
100
JESUSÕ PARABLES
108
JESUS FEEDS 5,000 PEOPLE
121
JESUS WALKS ON WATER
125
JESUS RAISES LAZARUS
131
JESUS GOES TO JERUSALEM
138
JESUS IN JERUSALEM
144
JESUSÕ FINAL DAYS
150
THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION
OF JESUS
167
JESUS IS TAKEN UP TO HEAVEN
174
THE REPLACEMENT FOR JUDAS
185
THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES
189
STEPHEN
195
PETER STARTS TEACHING AND
HEALING
204
PETER SPREADS THE MESSAGE
216
PERSECUTION IN JERUSALEM
229
SAUL ON THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS
237
SAUL GETS A NEW NAME
245
PAULÕS FIRST HEALING
253
A QUESTION FROM THE GENTILES
257
PAUL PREACHES TO THE GREEKS
263
PAULÕS NARROW ESCAPES
279
PAUL IS ARRESTED AND
SHIPWRECKED
293
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
309
MEET THE AUTHORS
Chris and Garrett have been working with Minecraft ® in schools since 2012. Through The Advanced Learning Project in the United States, they have created material for teachers to use Minecraft ® in the classroom. Here are their answers to some of the questions you may have about The Unofficial Old and New Testaments for Minecrafters .
How did you go about making The Unofficial Bible for Minecrafters ?
Garrett wrote most of the manuscript, taking the stories from the Bible and retelling them, and bringing in Minecraft ® features and humour where possible. Chris did the technical side, including creating the skins for the characters – look at Joseph’s amazing multicoloured coat, the striking Egyptians’ dress, and the differences between the twelve disciples in the New Testament.
Then Chris and Garrett designed and built the stories from the Bible actually in Minecraft ®. Chris took the photos and did some photo editing before bringing together the pictures and the text.
How did you choose which Bible stories to include?
Garrett chose the stories that he thought connected to the big themes of the Bible, from the Garden of Eden through to the death and resurrection of Jesus.
For the Old and New Testament volumes, you added stories to the ones that appeared in The Unofficial Bible for Minecrafters . Which of the new stories or scenes were difficult to create in Minecraft ®?
There wasn’t much of a difference in the difficulty factor from one scene or story to the next. The greater difficulty came during the prep work to make the book. We wanted to have greater command over the environment, so we added new technologies that allowed us more flexibility with the characters, their positions, their items, and the ability to do scenes with an unlimited number of “principal” characters. Finding solutions to achieve this, and learning how to use these new systems, was probably the most challenging aspect of the project.
vi
And what about some of the miracles in the Bible – were they hard to create?
You might think that the story of Jesus walking on water was difficult to create, but actually because Minecraft ® characters can fly, it was quite easy to make him walk on water! More difficult was the story of David and Goliath. How do you make a character much bigger than all the other characters? Chris had to use some special visual effects to make Goliath so much taller than David.
Which is your favourite story?
Given the chance to go deeper into the rich history of God’s people, we created vast new landscapes of cities from the regions of Israel and Greece, which made for a fun and exciting challenge that we were not able to tackle in the first version of the book. Because of this, we both really enjoy Paul’s story arc, as it covers a lot of ground in telling the story of the church; he transforms spiritually, and moves physically across many of our favourite sets.
We noticed that there are some hidden references to the Minecraft ® game. Can you tell us about these?
We tried to draw upon our experience and knowledge of Minecraft ® to inject as many references to the game as possible, which are what gamers call “Easter eggs”.
Some you might spot quickly, some might take more time. For instance, there is a reference to naming a baby “Steve”, after one of the players in Minecraft ®. If you are a Minecraft ® fan, have a look and see how many other references you can spot!
As we worked together every night on creating the Bible worlds, we would talk about what should be added to the storyline to make the book even more enjoyable. The humour that you find in the conversations and pictures was a natural outcome of two close friends talking through the Bible stories.
Finally, what is your vision for this book?
Our vision was to create something that hadn’t been done before. We believe it is the start of something special!
vii
I’m always on the lookout for new ways to tell Bible stories. That’s what storytellers do. The hardest job is finding a compelling and original “way in” to a story. And when I find something that works, I get really excited.
A few years back, the publishers behind the original US edition of these books created The Brick Bible . My son immediately went out and bought a copy. So OK, he’s 33, but he’s a LEGO ® fanatic, and he thought that the idea was absolutely brilliant!
He may not be quite so keen on Minecraft ®, but my grandchildren are. They don’t get much game-playing time, but when they do, Minecraft ® is their first choice. The older two (nine and six) love building the worlds, while the youngest, who is only three, simply enjoys digging holes and getting stuck in them.
So when I showed them a few sample pages from The Unofficial Bible for Minecrafters , they got the same look on their faces that my son had on his when he found The Brick Bible . Their responses ranged from “It’s funny” (which it is!) to “When can I read some more?”
As for me, I turned the pages just to see what the creators of the book would get up to next and how they would bring each scene to Minecrafter-life. And I have to say that I was surprised and delighted.
Every now and then, someone comes up with a new way of telling Bible stories that is just that little bit different. And if this is a “way in” for someone (and there are thousands of Minecrafters out there) and it’s compelling, intriguing, and faithful to the text, then I’m happy to recommend it. That’s what storytellers do.
Bob Hartman, Storyteller
FOREWORD
viii
The Birth of John the Baptist
Luke 1
Gabriel.
Yes, Lord.
This is where you come in.
Woo hoo!
1
IN THE TIME OF HEROD, THE KING OF JUDEA, THE ROMANS WERE THE RULERS OF THE WORLD.
ALTHOUGH THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL WERE SUBJECT TO ROME, THERE WERE MANY AMONG THEM WHO REMAINED LOYAL TO GOD AND WHO LOVED AND WORSHIPPED HIM.
ONE OF THESE BELIEVERS WAS A PRIEST NAMED ZECHARIAH.
ZECHARIAH AND HIS WIFE WERE GOOD PEOPLE WHO LIVED THEIR LIVES ACCORDING TO GODÕS COMMANDMENTS.
2
YEARS PASSED AND ZECHARIAH AND ELIZABETH GREW OLD, YET THEY HAD NOT BEEN BLESSED WITH A CHILD.
ZECHARIAH AND ELIZABETH ASKED ONLY ONE THING FROM GOD: THAT THEY WOULD HAVE A CHILD.
ONE DAY, ZECHARIAH WAS CHOSEN TO GO INTO THE TEMPLE AND BURN INCENSE.
Zechariah, today you will burn the incense in the Temple while people are praying.
I will be pleased and honoured to do it.
Good man.
3
ZECHARIAH PREPARED HIMSELF FOR DUTY. HE HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS ABOUT TO HAPPEN.
I hope nothing goes wrong.
It’ll be fine!
ZECHARIAH ENTERED THE TEMPLE WHILE THE PEOPLE GATHERED OUTSIDE TO PRAY.
SOON AFTER ZECHARIAH HAD LIT THE INCENSE, AN ANGEL APPEARED BEFORE HIM.
WHEN ZECHARIAH SAW THE ANGEL, HE BOWED LOW AND AVERTED HIS EYES.
Do not be afraid, Zechariah!
4
God has already heard your prayers. Your wife will soon have a son, and you will name him John.
He will be a great man in the sight of God, and will prepare for the coming of the Lord.
ZECHARIAH DID NOT BELIEVE WHAT THE ANGEL TOLD HIM.
I don’t believe you. I am old and so is my wife.
I am the Angel Gabriel, sen