Bible Reading Project: Invitation
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I issue this invitation to young and old, experienced and new Christian or seeking: Get to know your Old Testament. (If you already know it, wonderful!)
What do I mean by “know?” Become a scholar? Learn Hebrew? Of course not (though go ahead if you feel called to). My invitation is simpler: get to know the “grand narrative” of it, the two major stories and the characters in it, namely Exodus and Exile.
Why? The obvious reason is that within the Anglican Communion Scripture is one of the three sources of authority, and by Scripture is meant Old and New Testament (or Hebrew and Christian Scripture). The thing is, the Old Testament has attracted a bad press within recent memory. (There is nothing new under the sun: in the second century a heretic by the name of Marcion already wanted to do away with it.) The two major reasons for its current bad press are these:
- It is so unreliable, factually speaking. Who can take Creation as reported seriously, or Noah’s Ark, or the parting of the sea by Moses, just to name three glaring examples?
- And there is a moral point. God regularly instructed people to kill others for reasons we can’t accept anymore. We call some of those killings genocide today.
But excellent biblical scholars and faithful plain Christian folk have stared those reasons for dismissing the Old Testament in the face…and rejected them for good reasons. I’m asking you to trust those folks for the moment, and follow them in taking those 39 ancient books seriously.
How can you get sufficiently acquainted with those two grand narratives? Simple: beginning with Genesis 1, read on until you finish Malachi chapter 3. Mind you, there are portions you can easily skip without missing much. Who wants to plow through all the construction details, first of Moses’s Tabernacle, and then of Solomon’s Temple? And perhaps all those laws in Leviticus aren’t so vital either. And some of the prophets are a bit obscure, requiring other sources for illumination. But that still leaves enough for a systematic read from February till the end of July. Here is a schedule suggestion (but take your own time).
Feb: Genesis March: Exodus-Deuteronomy
April: Joshua, Judges, Ruth May: 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles.
June: Ezra, Nehemiah, Isaiah. July: Jeremiah and selections from the remaining prophets.
I suggest you read aloud, even if you are alone, certainly with and to your partner, and absolutely with your children. For children I suggest a suitable children’s version. For adults a number of different versions are easily obtained. At HTAC we most often use the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). More Evangelical folk are partial to the NIV (New International Version). Google will let you know what’s available. For children our HTAC library has two copies of a series, as well as individual copies of simple picture books that tell individual bible stories. For reading aloud together, especially also with older children (12 and up?) Johanna and I used to read the New Jerusalem Bible aloud. The editors of this version have inserted convenient captions ahead of manageable chunks.
Our clergy stand fully behind this initiative. And to support you in your reading, sources will be available to you, both on our church’s website and in hard copy (if you prefer). Moreover, clergy, theologian Steve Martin and I are available to answer any questions (and doubts!) you may have.
Will you give it a shot?
Adrian Peetoom, People’s Warden