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- About -

The Brick Testament is the largest, most comprehensive illustrated Bible in the world with over 3,600 illustrations that retell more than 400 stories from The Bible.

Launched first as a website in 2001, then as a published book series in 2003, The Brick Testament project is an ongoing one-man labor of love, constructed and photographed entirely by The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith.

- Frequently Asked Questions -

1. May I have permission to use the illustrations from The Brick Testament at my church, Sunday School, religious retreat, etc.?

This question has been moved to the top of the heap since it is now by far the most frequently asked question. And the answer gets its very own page.

2. Who should I contact about getting permission to reprint Brick Testament illustrations in a magazine, newspaper, TV show, etc?

Please direct any press inqueries directly to Rev. Smith.

3. What is the purpose of The Brick Testament?

Rev. Smith has stated that the goal of The Brick Testament is to give people an increased knowledge of the contents of The Bible in a way that is fun and compelling while remaining true to the text of the scriptures. To this end, all stories are retold using direct quotes from The Bible.

4. Which version of The Bible does The Brick Testament use to retell the stories?

The earliest version of this site drew most of its quotations from the New Jerusalem Bible, chosen for its generally accurate translation into readable contemporary English. To avoid copyright issues, most of the stories have now been updated with Rev. Smith's own wording which is based on a number of different public domain Bible translations and occasionally a translation from the original Hebrew or Greek suggested by colleagues.

In the occasional instances where characters are portrayed as saying or thinking words that are not direct quotes from the Bible, the speech balloon text is displayed in gray instead of the standard black.

5. May I translate The Brick Testament into my native language?

While it would be wonderful to have The Brick Testament available in all languages, certain restrictions prevent that from being an easily realizable goal. Happily, Brick Testament books are now available in German, Japanese, Korean, Swedish, Danish, and Hungarian (as well as English). If you are a publisher interested in publishing Brick Testament books in a language not listed above, please contact foreign rights manager Reka Rubin at Quirk Books to discuss the possibility.

The problem with creating whole other website versions of The Brick Testament in other languages is that Rev. Smith can under no circumstances allow the images from The Brick Testament to appear on websites which are not under his direct control. And since Smith himself does not have enough time or knowledge to do such translations himself, the best he can offer for the time being is these automatically translated versions of the site (using Google's translator) in French, Spanish, German, Russian, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, or Greek.

6. Is The Brick Testament really created entirely out of LEGO?

Everything but the background sky is built out of LEGO brand building blocks. There are a few select instances where Rev. Smith has resorted to modifying LEGO pieces with a hobby knife or permanent ink marker, but by far the vast majority of everything you see in The Brick Testament are unaltered LEGO parts from sets that date from the 1960s up to the present day, artfully recombined to form the characters and settings that make up these Bible stories.

8. Are more stories really on the way?

Yes, Rev. Smith has expressed his commitment to continue illustrating ever more Bible stories and adding them to the website for the foreseeable future.

9. Where else have I seen The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith?

You may recognize Rev. Smith from his starring role in the popular internet film Vendetta: A Christmas Story. You may also be familiar with his musical work with The Human Heads. For a full list of Rev. Smith's other creative projects, see his personal website.

10. Is he really a reverend?

Most ministers, priests, or other religious clerics would not actually use "The Reverend" before their own names, for to do so would be presumptuous and rather vain. The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith is not an ordained member of any earthly church, and is widely regarded as being both highly presumptuous and extremely vain.


Site content copyright 2001-2009 by The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith. all rights reserved
This site is in no way sponsored, authorized or endorsed by the LEGO company.