At last week’s WI meeting one of my friends came over as soon as I arrived and whispered this magic words: “I’ve found you come Ladybird books” and oh boy had she come up trumps!
As well as the large history and nature series that Ladybird are quite famous for they also published a large number of religious titles (split over a couple of series) that are not so well known. I’ve picked up a couple of these over the years (St Paul being one such example) but there generally don’t seem to be many of them about in charity shops. Imagine my delight therefore when this set that E had found contained four of them.
Jesus by the Sea of Galilee was the eighth title in series 522, which was imaginatively called Religion, but back in 1958 when this particular title was published, religion was very firmly based around bible stories and it certainly doesn’t reflect the religious mix that we have in the UK today.
This particular book tells us various stories about Jesus’ time in ministry by the Sea of Galilee and the story is told by Lucy Diamond, and illustrated by Kenneth Inns. When Jesus was driven out of Nazareth he fled to a city on the shore of the Sea of Galilee called Capernaum. In the business part of Galilee, Capernaum had shipbuilding yards, fish curing sheds and the customs offices of the Roman rulers and there were people there from many nations.
Whilst by the Sea of Galilee Jesus chose his twelve disciples – or “learners” – to follow him and these men became his dear friends. Jesus started his ministry and also started healing people and once word of his powers spread he made sure that he moved along from town to town so that everyone could hear him preach.
The bible stories in Jesus by the Sea of Galilee are ones that I’m pretty sure I heard either at Sunday School or in Religious Education at primary school. It’s strange how you can forget about things for years and then suddenly have them all come flooding back years later. It does leave me wondering what a Religious series might look like if Ladybird were to publish one today though. I’m guessing a lot more varied.
If you have a collection of old Ladybird books then please feel free to join in with Ladybird Tuesday. There are no formal rules to follow, just leave a link to any post you write in the comments below and if you’re feeling kind link back to my Ladybird Tuesday category here on Being Mrs C. Thank you!
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