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Introduction

The Bible is a book.

But not just a book.

It is also a fountain, from which springs forth great sprays of art, music, and literature. It is the source of much of our Western culture, a wellspring of our imagination. And it is all around us. Even if we aren’t particularly religious, we can’t escape the biblical motifs, language, and metaphors filling our daily life.

There has always been a tradition of presenting the Bible visually, since icons and sculpture, illuminated manuscripts and stained glass evoke the mystery and message of the Bible better than printed words can. So it seemed perfectly natural to me to portray biblical stories in my own medium, paper and origami.

Bible origami!

I love origami. I can spend hours doing it. But however much fun it might be folding up an elephant, for example, in the end it’s just one elephant. What can I do with just one elephant? I always feel like it’s lonely. It wants some elephant company. And then maybe it wants some lion company too, and a horse, and a bird. . . and soon it’s a bunch of friends playing together. If I add a bit of background it becomes the kernel of a story. Now I’ve got a lively origami picture.

The trick has been to make the pieces look like they belong together. They have to be in the same style, and appropriate sizes, or they will look more like an origami jumble than a picture. A parade of matching animals with a big boat background make up a moment captured from the story of Noah and his ark: an origami tableau.

So here are a bunch of projects for you to fold and work into your very own tableaux of some of the greatest Bible stories. With one or two exceptions, the models are all my originals. They all look fine on their own, and they look better in their sets, but they will look really great when you add your own touches. What each tableau will look like is up to you. I have arranged the projects in the order in which they appear in the Bible. But some of the early pieces are the most difficult, so I suggest you work your way through a few of the simpler pieces first—the pieces with the fewest steps. Take your time, look at all the diagrams carefully, fold precisely, and you’ll make out fine. No miracles required!

To download the Folding Paper for 72 models, please click HERE.