The Anabaptism at 500 project has commissioned four artists to create 40 line drawings to illuminate the text of the Anabaptist Community Bible.

To be published in 2025, the Bible will commemorate the 500th anniversary of Anabaptism. It will feature study material generated by more than 500 study groups from Anabaptist communities.

In a news release, the publisher, MennoMedia, cited the visual arts’ capacity to communicate truths about God and God’s people beyond the written word.

“We hope that the artwork accompanying the Anabaptist Community Bible will evoke a sense of the inner word — the surprising movement of the Holy Spirit — that sometimes illuminates meanings that are not apparent in the written text alone,” the release said.

Four artists — Lisa Oberik, Dona Park, Randy Horst, Matthew Regier — will each make 10 illustrations in the woodcut or linocut style.

To create the new Bible, the Anabaptism at 500 project invited groups from a wide range of Anabaptist faith communities to write annotations that reflect the values and perspectives of the Anabaptist tradition.

The response exceeded the goal of 500 Bible study groups. Participants registered from 16 countries and 58 Anabaptist-Mennonite denominations and church bodies.

The groups read assigned passages of Scripture and generated comments, questions or applications. The commentary they generated, supplemented by insights from biblical scholars and biblical commentary from early Anabaptist writers, will appear as marginal notes.

“We hope the project will inspire a renewed interest in reading the Bible together from a Christ-centered perspective,” the MennoMedia release said. It suggests: “Pray for John Roth, Mollee Moua and the rest of the editorial team as they work through the massive amount of biblical commentary provided by the study groups. . . .

“Pray for the MennoMedia editorial team as they begin to work with writers and illustrators for the children’s books that are part of the Anabaptism at 500 project.”

The editors have chosen the Common English Bible translation, which uses simpler language than other popular versions and likely is a version that many potential purchasers do not have.