Creative Bible Lessons in Genesis
Author: Hoon Kim
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310270936
144 pages, paperback
Westminster Theological Seminary graduate Hoon Kim set out to produce what many of our customers at wtsbooks.com have been asking for for some time: a youth Bible study that is christocentric in approach with heart change as its goal. While this resource has much to recommend it over others that are available, it does not quite achieve its stated aims.
To its credit, Creative Bible Lessons in Genesis consistently gets participants into the text of Genesis. Unlike some other youth Bible studies (and too many adult ones as well!), it doesn’t just use the text as a background to whatever issue the author wanted to discuss anyway. Also, inexperienced teachers will welcome the numerous activities and suggestions for how to transition to each part of the lesson. (However, as one who has worked with middle and high schoolers, I would question the feasibility of some of the activities. I haven’t known too many adolescents who would share their innermost fears and longings with a stranger over a candle in a cupcake.)
More importantly, though, I was disappointed that Kim did not consistently pursue some of the trajectories he set for the study in his introduction. For example, though he states there that “to make this ancient faith real to us and our students, we need to explain how Jesus fulfilled the promises of God in the Old Testament,” many of the lessons only do so in a very cursory manner or not at all.
Furthermore, while Kim notes the importance of emphasizing the Bible as redemptive-historical narrative to postmodern youth, this gets lost in the old-school, fill-in-the-blank questionnaires that make up the bulk of the studies.
Despite these shortcomings, the book can serve as a useful resource for the skilled Sunday School teacher or youth leader. Not all of the activities are as suspect as the cupcake candle one already mentioned, and many of the questions in the lessons are good ones if woven into lessons that actually center in the goals Kim stated for his guide. - Mark Traphagen, Westminster Bookstore Staff, March 2007
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