Week 1: What it is and why it is important.
For many of us, the Bible remains a huge mystery. We often approach it with mistaken preconceptions including the following. First, we think the Bible is an historical record of all that happened from the time God created the world until the time a generation after Jesus ascended into Heaven. (While much of what the Bible contains is historical, it is not history the way we understand it today.) Second, we assume that every word in the Bible must be taken literally. (Even tho much of what the Bible says clashes with modern day science and historical investigation.) Third, many turn to the Bible with an expectation that it will help us solve our personal problems and provide answers to our questions.
To move beyond these misconceptions, we must first understand that the Bible is not a book, but a collection of books—written at different times, by different authors, using different styles of writing. The purpose of the Bible is to tell the story of salvation: how God intervened in human history, entered into covenant with a group of people, formed them, and ultimately took flesh among them in the person of Jesus. In that context it is clear that the Bible above all is a book about God’s relationship with humans. It describes how God chose to reveal himself, what he expects of us in our relationship with him and with each other. Often it is described as a kind of Owner’s Handbook to the Human Race instructing us how to live fully in this world and for all eternity.
We believe that the authors of the Bible were inspired. By that we mean not that they dictated a message from God, but that God worked in and through them as they used literary forms and images that would be familiar to the audience of their time—conveying accurately the message God inspired them to write. The Bible declares that God acted in the lives of the Israelites in many; dramatic ways. Questions quickly arise: Did the events happen in the way they are reported in the Bible? Did they happen at all? Recent work by historians and archeologists both confirm and raise doubts about all of this. What we believe is this: what is written in the inspired books of the Bible is free from error in teaching the truth God wanted conveyed for the sake of our salvation.
Without a clear understanding of inspiration, inerrancy, and basic tools for interpreting the Bible we can easily be misled, discouraged, or just disillusioned with it all together. This series will provide that framework so we are equipped to use the Bible fruitfully in our lives.
Week 2: An Overview of the Bible
Last week we I talked about the purpose of the Bible being to convey the master plan God has for the human race—the history of salvation. This week I will give a bit of a primer on the different parts of the Bible and how they tell that story.
The Old Testament begins with five books of the Bible called the Pentateuch that describe how Israel came to be the Chosen People of God. It is considered the most sacred collection of texts for the Jewish people. These writings form a collection of stories about how God chose to reveal himself, how the Israelite community got their very identity, and how they were instructed to live in the freedom of God’s children.
Following the Pentateuch are a number of historical works chronicling the 600 years beginning with the entrance into the Promised Land. In it we have the accounts of Joshua, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, King David, and Solomon. A recurring message is the consequences of being faithful to the covenant—and the results of being unfaithful.
The Psalms (150 of them) are a collection of prayers that articulate our response to God. They fall into three categories: lament—expressions of sorrow and distress, thanksgiving—usually in gratitude for being rescued from danger, and praise—not for what God has done, but for who God is. They provide for us a model of how to relate to God and express that relationship.
The writings of the prophets follow. Prophets were individuals who were able to see reality at a much deeper level than the ordinary person. Their role was not to predict the future, but to interpret what was happening in their time, point out the consequences of the community’s actions, and ultimately direct Israel to the decisions needed to be made.
Finally, we have a category of writings called the Wisdom literature. Wisdom in the Bible is way more than a reservoir of facts, but was a collection of lessons about life—how to live well, deeply, and fruitfully.
In the New Testament we have the four Gospels, each of which gives a different “portrait” of Jesus. Each was written with a different purpose in mind and each gives its own interpretation of who Jesus was. Following the Gospels we have writings that describe how that experience of Jesus was lived out in the times immediately following his death and resurrection, problems encountered, and an ongoing challenge to remain faithful, no matter what happens.
Week 3: Interpreting and Understanding the Bible
Understanding the original context and purpose of any given writing in the Bible is crucial for our understanding of the message conveyed. The books of the Bible were written over at least a 1200 year period of time. What the world looked like at the time a book of the Bible was written has huge influence on the meaning of the text. Similarly the customs of the culture and society of the audience addressed significantly shape the understanding of the message. Most important, the form of writing the author chose to use has huge impact on the message conveyed. A common illustration of this is the parallel to a newspaper with its many different forms of writing: advertisements, editorials, news items, cartoons. We easily recognize each as having a distinct way of presenting material. In the same way books of the Bible are written in distinctly different forms. Often individuals get misled by Biblical texts by not having even a basic understanding of the form of writing at play.
And, this is where having a good translation of the Bible is helpful. If you browse the Bible section of any bookstore you will see many different translations. The one we use at Mass is the New American Standard and it is readily available. Many of the editions of this have excellent notes and background information. I encourage you to browse and find one that looks helpful.
I mentioned in Part 1 of this series that the way we understand history has a big impact on interpreting the Bible accurately. The Bible is not a videotaped documentary of events or persons! The way history is recorded in the Bible is different. It is more like the editorial page of a newspaper than the front page news. The events described were primarily being told to reveal the meaning behind the event. What we have throughout the Bible is a collection of stories told by believers about how God worked in their lives. It was a collective memory of many generations, told and retold usually in a worship setting, the purpose being to evoke a response from those who listened—a response of fidelity and greater surrender. They were to empower hope in those who read them that God has been and is active in the lives of his people. In our own reading of the Bible, that is precisely what we can gain!
Week 4: Using the Bible Fruitfully
There are different ways of reading the Bible and different purposes for doing so. Let me outline several. Because the Bible provides a comprehensive description of God’s plan of salvation, there is value in simply becoming familiar with the Bible as a whole. To read the Bible cover to cover is not an unreasonable goal for each of us to have. Countless individuals have set out to do this and get started with great zeal but totally lose steam when they run into lengthy genealogies, census counts, detailed guidelines for Jewish festivals, and a multitude of laws that seem totally irrelevant. I suggest you give yourself permission to skim thru the difficult parts and pay more attention to the parts that seem more interesting.
Study of the Bible is going to require some additional tools—a good commentary or a class. Often this is done thematically or by delving in some depth into a specific book of the Bible. Because the entire Bible is interrelated, studying one book has huge overflow into a greater understanding of other parts of the Bible. There is a wealth of material available to assist! Choosing a Bible with good footnotes and introductions can be a big help. Go to any bookstore and browse thru their Bibles. Do not worry about it being “Catholic” or not, just find one that looks readable and helpful!
Using the Bible for personal prayer and inspiration can take many different tacts. Many choose to spend time daily or weekly with the cycle of readings we use at our Masses. The USCCB website (usccb.org) has an easy to use link to these readings, different apps are available for downloading, and different printed guides are available (The Magnificat, and God’s Word Today are two good ones). Check out these websites for daily inspiration: wordonfire.org, foodforthejourney.org. In our Prayer 101 series we suggested reading a short passage and then pondering the following questions about it: Based on the passage, for what am I grateful? For what do I need to express sorrow? For what do I need to ask God? Pondering these kinds of questions help us get out of heads and into our hearts, deepening our relationship with God and entering into a kind of dialog with Him thru His Word.
I encourage you to become more familiar with Bible, to read from it regularly, to persevere beyond the temptation to give up, and to trust that the same Holy Spirit who inspired the writers of the Bible will inspire you to enter more deeply into relationship with the God revealed throughout the Bible!