The Ology by Marty Machowski

For the past couple of months, I’ve been working my way through a big stack of stuff Timberdoodle sent me to review. They let me pick which products I was most interested in, and one of the ones I requested was a devotional book for families called The Ology by Marty Machowski.

I’ve been hearing good things about this book for a long time. As it comes highly recommended by many conservative Christians I respect, I was delighted to finally get a copy.

We’ve been going through this book slowly on the two or three days a week I have my grandchildren. A few of them are too young to read it on their own yet, but they’ve enjoyed listening in when I read it aloud to their older brothers.

The participating sibling group ranges in age from 3 to 13. The Ology does a great job tacking the major tenets of the Christian faith in language simple enough for a child to understand. Yet neither the text nor the illustrations seem particularly juvenile, so the book is well-suited to a wide range of ages. Going through it with my grands has prompted all sorts of good discussions.

Each chapter includes a short Scripture passage to read together and a concrete example or simple analogy to help children grasp the concept. Each chapter is only 3-5 pages long, but The Ology’s author, Marty Machowski, provides plenty of cross reference verses for those who want to dig deeper.

Sometimes I assign each of the older kids a related verse to look up and read aloud to the whole group. But not always, because the little ones often reach their limit for sitting still by the time I finish just the basic reading. They love looking at the pictures, though.

The illustrations are beautifully rendered. They all depict some aspect of the analogy used to explain each concept. The subtitle of The Ology is “Ancient Truths Ever New.” That’s an excellent summary.

If you’re interested in reading through The Ology with your own family, click through and order a copy from Timberdoodle. Take a look around while you’re there, and you’ll understand why we fell in love with this company decades ago.

If what you find there tempts you to go on a shopping spree like it always tempts me, you may want to sign up for the Doodle Dollar Program before placing your first order. Doing so can help you save money on future purchases.