Too many see the Bible as just an ancient text, with no relevance for daily life. Even most Christians aren’t spending time in the Word like they should.
And what of the children? In a recent survey, the American Bible Study found that more than half of Christian adults wish their kids read the Bible more. Some 40-percent of them find it hard to teach children about the Bible these days—and 54-percent would use a tool to help their children understand the Bible.
Enter the allegorical videogame The Aetherlight: Chronicles of the Resistance. Created by Scarlet City Studios, this interactive experience draws young players into a fantastical world where they learn the Bible in the course of their adventure.
“We have taken the greatest story ever told—the story of the God of the Bible and his relationship with humanity—and built an allegorical world that is truly epic,” says Scarlet City CEO Carl Becker. “Our hope is that this brand-new expression of the biblical narrative will help them to see their own world—and their part in it—through new lenses, with greater hope and a richer sense of meaning.”
The Aetherlight retells the historical events of the Bible in a new narrative context—not unlike C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia or even the many VeggieTales retellings of classic Bible adventures. But retelling the Bible as an allegory isn’t a challenge to be taken lightly.
Scarlet City’s Tim Cleary, who wrote the story behind The Aetherlight, says it’s a huge task.“Not only do many of us have Bible college and church experience,” says the former youth minister, “but we also have a Theologian in Residence who is involved in much of our work from planning and pre-production, to writing, to the books we’re working on and our Bible.”