The New Testament

We associate major works like The New Testament as holy vessels containing parables that show us how to live, what to value, what to condemn, and a theistic view of earth, the heavens and our origins. The New Testament has, for almost two thousand years, has been a source of knowledge and comfort, right and wrong; a guide to life for millions.

Leave it to iconoclast designer Chip Kidd to remind us that both New and Old Testaments also contain tales of betrayal, larceny, rape, torture, murder, war… basically every evil humans are capable of. For the cover of this edition, Kidd uses one of photographer Andres Serrano’s (of Piss Christ notoriety) images from his “Morgue” series; a horrific, close-cropped view of the face of a man who – according to the photo’s title – has been hacked to death. The image is placed on the lower half of the cover, giving it the weight and visual pressure of a violent death; the victim’s face is pressed to the bottom edge of the book in the same manner as it most likely looked laying on the autopsy table. The man’s eye sees nothing; the viewer can’t look away.