Kenneth N. Taylor Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Kenneth N. Taylor is best known as the founder of the Christian Booksellers Association and Tyndale House Publishers. The author was born in Portland, Oregon Charlotte, and George Huff Taylor in 1917.
Given that his mother was very Godly and his father was a pastor, Taylor would become a devout Christian and a child that respected the Bible very much.

In 1938, he went to the Illinois-based Wheaton College and then went to Dallas Theological Seminary before getting his master’s in theology from the Northern Baptist Seminary.
He has also received honorary doctorate degrees from the likes of Taylor University, Wheaton College, Huntington College, and the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Taylor spent more than six decades in publishing as he started out editing his magazine before he moved to Moody Press where he was director.
He made a name writing many children’s books including “My First Bible in Pictures” and “Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes.”

But perhaps he was probably known as the man responsible for “The Living Bible,” which was his paraphrase of the scriptures that would go on to sell more than 40 million copies.

“The Living Bible” was born out of his desire to have a bible that his children could understand.

At some point, Kenneth N. Taylor had ten children in his home in Wheaton and the family used to have an evening ritual of reading the bible, praying together, and singing hymns.

During this time, the King James Bible was the most common translation, and as a youth, he had always found the language too complicated. He thus wanted to come up with something his children could more easily comprehend.
In 1954, he was riding the train to work in Chicago when he thought maybe he should use that time to write his new bible. He began by paraphrasing the New Testament which took seven years to convert into modern English.
But when he submitted his manuscript to publishing houses, all of them rejected his work. Convinced that his work was of some value, he decided to use his meager savings and started publishing his manuscript as “Living Letters.”
It was also at this time that he made his bible even simpler, as he put it in easy-to-read and more conversational language.

Ultimately, he got an offer from “Lithocolor Press” president Paul Benson who said he would print 2000 copies as long as he got paid when the books sold.

Things would change for Kenneth N. Taylor when Billy Graham began to use the “Living Letters” in his television broadcasts which drove demand for the books.

In 1967, he published the “Living New Testament,” and the complete “Living Bible” was published in 1971. It would become a bestselling fiction work in the US for the next three years that it was removed from the bestsellers list by Publisher’s Weekly.
With “The Living Bible” becoming more popular, Taylor’s heart for Christian service and quiet generosity continued to grow. Ultimately, he committed all his profits from selling the bestselling work “The Living Bible” into a trust.
He decided to donate all the royalties from his profits to the Tyndale House Foundation which was established to support mission work across the globe.

He also established “Tyndale House Publishers” which he chaired until 1984 when he left the reins to his son Mark. He would continue chairing the board of the publishing house and the foundation until his death in 2005.

Kenneth N. Taylor’s “A Child’s First Bible” is a perfect bible that you can use at home or take to church for your kids. It is a collection of more than 100 of the most familiar passages in the bible from both the New and Old Testaments.
It opens with the story of Genesis and ultimately ends with Revelation. The author tells the stories of the bible in simple words and combined with the beautiful illustrations, this is a work that your kids will love.
He includes the best stories that we grew up reading and loving so that you can read them aloud to your child and get them familiar with some fundamentals of the Christian faith.

I found the text to be inspiring and the illustrations charming making this a must-have for every child’s bookshelf.

The best thing is that it is written in bold, clear, and large fonts. With the questions at the end of each passage highlighting critical biblical truths, what’s not to love?

Kenneth N. Taylor’s novel “Everything a Child Should Know about God” is not your usual storybook telling stories from the bible.

Rather than go through a narrative, it tackles biblical topics which are common in systematic theology and makes them accessible to a child’s understanding.
Each one is about a specific topic such as the “Holiness of God” in a short passage of text that has on the opposite page a bright matching illustration. It also comes with Bible passages that you can read so that your child can get a better comprehension.
Taylor organizes his topics into thematic sections such as the work of the Holy Spirit, why Christians go to church, and the attributes of God.

The best thing about this work is that it deals with themes that might not be so readily apparent reading the bible for your kid as a parent.

Like the previous work, it comes with easy language, great illustrations, and questions at the end of each lesson so that the kid can remember the most important lessons learned.

Taylor’s “The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes” is what you need to get for your very young children. It has been a favorite introductory work for decades as it makes use of simple language and illustrations to explain Bible stories.
The work is regularly updated and now comes with a very portable edition, which makes it the perfect format to share Bible truths with your little ones.

Given that it is written in very easy-to-understand language, Bible truths are made easy to digest. By adding in pictures, it is a work that is certain to leave an indelible impression on your kid that will last forever.
The author provides an overview for the little child learning the bible and also divides the readings into short paragraph readings for teaching or devotion.

Lastly, just like most of Kenneth N. Taylor’s novels, it comes with simple questions after each passage to make it easy for the kid to remember important lessons about Biblical themes.