For the past three years, we have used the Common Lectionary as the source for our Bible Study. We were thus able to sample a LOT of passages from all of Scripture. One challenge was to tie them together; to see if we could figure out why the compilers of the Lectionary chose those particular passages for the particular Sunday in the church year.
Another advantage of this approach--besides working through the whole Bible in three years--was the close relationship to the liturgical cycles. Often, pastors in whatever church you attended would be preaching on one or two of the four readings the Lectionary chose. This added a perspective and a depth to our discussions. Moreover, online sites such as textweek.com had commentaries on each of the readings published many weeks in advance. You could, therefore, prepare ahead of time for the sermons or the face to face discussions in Bible Study.
It is difficult to give all of that up. But it may be time to back off such in-depth and academic studies of Scripture and return to the Bible we knew and loved as children, a time when we were often held spellbound by the stories from both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament.
Dr. Timothy Beal, the Florence Harkness Professor of Religion at Case Western Reserve University, gives us that opportunity with his book, Biblical Literacy: The Essential Bible Stories Everyone Needs to Know, published by Harper One publishers in 2009.
Dr. Beal, who lives in Shaker Heights, Ohio, is a prolific writer. His latest book is titled The Rise and Fall of the Bible: The Unexpected History of an Accidental Book published by Houghton Mifflin in 2011.
But back to Biblical Literacy where you will find stories from nearly every book in the Hebrew Scriptures (he calls it "The Hebrew Bible") and from the New Testament copied into his book using the New Revised Standard Version, along with very brief commentaries in bold type. These commentaries often give some essential background, a salient quote from someone, or highlight something that jumped out at Dr. Beal, including an historical relationship (e.g. a reference to Joseph Haydyn's oratorio, The Creation as a sidebar to the creation story).
Some might say that biblical scholars have ruined the Bible, or have at least put it at arm's length from the understanding of regular people. Beal tries to get back to that old, old approach that "Reading the Bible is not about getting it right. It's about making meaning from it (Introduction, p. xx)." And he loves pointing out how many modern references, sayings, and applications derive their origin and their meaning from these ancient texts.
This will, therefore, be a different approach. We will explore it together with Dr. Beal's help and hopefully use the opportunity to deepen our spirituality, our awareness of the closeness of God.
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