Resources for teaching your children about the Reformation

This year, two of my great loves are converging: my love for my children (ranging in age from two to eleven) and my love for the Protestant Reformation. For the last several months I’ve been handing my children a steady stream of books about the Reformation, with varied responses. Some they’ve loved and others they endured. In no particular order, here are some of the better picks:

• Luther: Echoes of the Hammer by Susan Leigh, illustrated by Dave Hill—Of all the books on the Reformation I shared with my kids, this graphic novel was far and away the most beloved. It’s the only one they actually request permission to read. It’s basically a biography of Martin Luther in the form of a long comic book. In addition to the fast-paced story and gripping graphics, it’s packed with informative sidebars, maps, and explanations of important terms (e.g. indulgences). You’ll learn about Martin, Katherine, Zwingli, Melanchthon, and all the other important first-generation reformers. My only caution with it is that it’s written from a very strong Lutheran perspective and portrays non-Lutheran Protestants as dubious fellows. But with a bit of parental guidance, it’s a wonderful way to share the story of the Reformation with your children (adults will love it too!).
• Christian Biographies for Young Readers by Simonetta Carr—This is a beautiful series of pictorial biographies of various Protestant heroes, pitched at children aged seven to ten. While new volumes are still being added, books on Luther, Calvin, Knox, and Lady Jane Grey have been completed. The content is kid-friendly, interesting, devotional and accurate, and the pictures are really quite stunning. They’re the sort of books you could enjoyably read aloud to your children sitting with you on the couch in about 20 minutes.
• The Trailblazers Series—This is a substantial series of around 60 biographies, by different authors, pitched at slightly older children (maybe ages ten to fourteen). All the subjects are conservative evangelical Protestants, and volumes exist for Reformation heroes including Luther, Calvin, Knox, and Zwingli (and possibly more). Our family hasn’t read all of them, but those we did use we found helpful. Unlike the books I mentioned above, this series does not include pictures.
• Heroes of the Reformation: Life-Changing Lessons for the Young by Richard Newton—This is a very unique book. It’s a collection of children’s sermons by a Presbyterian pastor who lived from 1813-1887. Each of the 34 sermons summarizes the life of a different Reformer (many lesser-known) in three or four pages, and attempts to draw practical lessons for godliness from their lives. While they do feel a bit hagiographic at times, they’re written in a thrilling style which my oldest son found hard to put down. It also contains dozens of dramatic 19^th century wood-cut illustrations. I imagine it’d be most appropriate for kids ten and older.
• This Changed Everything: 500 Years of the Reformation—This is a three-hour documentary on the Protestant Reformation, similar in feel to something you’d see on the History Channel. Through a combination of interviews with scholars, visits to historical sites, and panoramic shots of cathedrals and artifacts, the viewer gets a good overview of the history and theology of the Reformation. While younger children would be bored to tears, my kids over seven actually enjoy watching it with me. The fact that it’s narrated by David Suchet, whom my children recognize from Focus on the Family Radio Theater, makes it all the more attractive. I do, however, have a significant concern with this project. It attempts to be ‘theologically neutral’, meaning it gives Roman Catholic scholars as much of a hearing as Protestants and tries to come across as ‘unbiased’. In my opinion, this results in a confused message wherein the viewer can’t really tell if the Reformation was a courageous and necessary defense of the gospel, or an unfortunate squabble over theological minutia. Yet, if supplemented by other good resources and a healthy dose of parental guidance, This Changed Everything can be a very useful tool in teaching your children about the meaning and significance of the Reformation.

For those of us who believe the Reformation was a sovereign work of God in recovering the gospel, we have a Christian duty to teach this to our children. Thankfully, the same God who prompted Luther to post his 95 Theses has also provided us with many excellent resources for teaching the meaning and significance of the Reformation to the next generation. Hopefully these resources I’ve mentioned above will be useful to that end. And if you’ve got additional ones you’ve found helpful, tell us about them!