After missing a snow day Feb. 7 and rescheduling the Gospel Parallels conversation to Feb. 14, we met on Feb. 21 to introduce the practice of Lectio Divina. I've found a wonderful article online by Fr. Luke Dysinger that describes the practice for individuals and groups (like ours), as well as a way to integrate the practice into our daily life.
We introduced this practice of prayerful scripture reading on Feb. 21, but you can experience this part of the class again on Wednesday evening, Feb. 24, at 8 pm in the sanctuary, following the Lenten Prayer service that begins at 7 pm. Please plan to join us for some welcome spiritual refreshment and peace.
Here's an outline of what we've covered so far:
1. Jan. 17 - The Daily Office (prayers of the hours or praying scripture) - we discussed the difference between what you learned about the Bible as a child and what you have learned about the Bible as an adult (passive vs. engaged).
2. Jan. 24 - Psalm 19 and Praying with the Body - we discussed what it means to call the Bible "God's Word". Introduced the "dropped ski" analogy and the difference between appreciating and appropriating the message of scripture. We also discussed the tension between the explicit and implicit word (creation vs. law).
3. Jan. 31 - Following the "Here I Am, Lord" topical thread or chain - discussed Karen Armstrong' assertion that the Bible is a commentary or interpretation of events (rather than a bare reporting of those events). Focused on Gen. 22 (the sacrifice of Isaac) and how we must go to the edge in order to truly know about ourselves.
4. Feb. 14 (skipped Feb. 7 due to snow) - Gospel Parallels of Mark 2:23-28 - we (1) compared the parallel accounts and (2) discussed the interpretive methods used by the pharisees, Jesus, and the Gospel writers. We discussed integrating the Bible story into our life story as a way of doing theology. We also discussed the tension between freedom in Christ and the requirements of the Law.
5. Feb. 21 and 24 (Wednesday evening) - Lectio Divina using Jeremiah 29:10-14 - reading from the TNIV, RSV, and TNK versions and listening for a word that resonates with our lives. This way of inspirational reading (or hearing) contrasts sharply with the more scholarly and pedantic technique we used in comparing the Gospel parallels.
Here is the plan for the remainder of the class sessions:
6. Feb. 28 and March 3 (Wednesday evening) - a whirlwind tour of the "seminal stories" of the Bible. These stories are the primary narratives that provide the structure and foundation of the Biblical narrative.
7. Mar. 7 and 10 (Wednesday evening) - Dennis Dewey and the art of Biblical storytelling - let's experience together how scripture might have been originally transmitted among the Israelites and early Christians.
8. Mar. 14 and 17 (Wednesday evening) - using the Bible as it's own interpretive commentary on Genesis 19 (destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah) - we'll examine the ways scripture references and interprets Genesis 19, as well as the interpretive power of translation.
9. Mar. 21 and 24 (Wednesday evening) - experiencing scripture liturgically - we'll join for a celebration of communion as we gather around the story of passover, the letters of Paul, and the Gospel accounts of the last supper.
Showing posts with label bible study resources christian homiletics exegesis literary criticism Jesus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bible study resources christian homiletics exegesis literary criticism Jesus. Show all posts
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
List of Resources for further reading
Here is a collection of resources that have helped and inspired me - as I hope they will help and inspire you as you open yourself more and more to the gift of scripture in your faith journey.
Sex and the Single Savior: Gender and Sexuality in Biblical Interpretation by Dale Martin - a friend a colleague recommended this book to me after hearing about the story of Skyline Church the past few years. This book, as well as Martin's other book on this list, Pedagogy of the Bible, makes the case for discernment among the many ways of reading scripture (as opposed to privileging one reading - particularly the historical-critical reading). Martin also gave me the gift of seeing scripture as a vast cathedral space.
Pedagogy of the Bible: An Analysis and Proposal by Dale Martin - fleshes out more explicitly Martin's thesis of the need for discernment in the Christian community among the many readings and ways of reading and interpreting scripture. I liked especially Martins exposition of Premodern (Ancient and the High Middle Ages) Biblical Interpretation in this book - which gave me an appreciation of the many ways Christians have interpreted scripture through the centuries.
Reading the Bible Again for the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally by Marcus Borg - Jesus Seminar scholar who invites you to move from a "pre-critical naivete through critical thinking to a post-critical naivete" in comprehending the many meanings of scripture. Borg encourages us to participate in a dialogue with the writers and stories of scripture, so that they become our stories as well. This inspirational book asserts that the whole of scripture bears witness to God's ongoing overthrow of economic, political and religious powers in a cycle of exodus-liberation and exile-return.
The Bible: A Biography by Karen Armstrong - this may be the most accessible book by Karen Armstrong, who explores the origins and uses of our scriptures (Jewish and Christian). I especially appreciated how Armstrong explains how scripture writers recorded commentary of history rather than bare reporting or recording of history.
Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why by Bart Ehrman - great book that demonstrates the reality and causes of textual manuscript variants in our New Testament.Ehrman also explores the significance of these variants for Christians who see the Bible as more than a magical book. If you like this book, you might also be interested in Ehrman's Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them).
The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart by Peter Gomes -another inspiration for this course I read several years ago. Writes of scripture as a public, living, and inclusive word that "points to the truth" because it "comes from the truth that we call God". His book includes a helpful exploration of scriptural interpretation and twelve topical illustrations of scriptural interpretive discernment.
The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts by Israel Finkelstein and Asher Silberman - challenging and fascinating book presenting a story of scriptural origins supported by the latest archaeological finds. Finkelstein and Silberman draw on the learnings of archaeological surveys (covering large areas rather than specific sites in order to discover signs of broader cultural and migration patterns) to make a case that the Torah and historical books of the former prophets were compiled chiefly during Josiah's reign in the late 6th century BCE using ancient stories to interpret Israel's hopes for a new future.
God: A Biography by Jack Miles - Pulitzer-prizewinning book that examines the Hebrew Bible in the order in which the books were written from a literary critical perspective to make a case that God needs people in order to grow in self understanding as a literary character. Miles uses this unique perspective to present a reading that takes seriously the literary style and content of the Hebrew Bible.
Personal Mark by Alec McGowan - an actor who spent some time on Broadway reciting Mark (all the rage in the late 80's and early 90's, believe it or not) reflects on the things he learned while studying for this role as Gospel chronicler. In spite of McGowan's limited scholarly knowledge of scripture (he relies heavily on Barclay's commentaries on the New Testament), he brings a fresh perspective on the familiar stories of Marks' Gospel from a dramatic perspective.
Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel: A Study in Literary Design by Alan Culpepper - great book I used in divinity school as an introduction to a literary critical approach to interpreting the Gospel of John. Culpepper offers this more comprehensive approach to understanding and appreciating the fourth Gospel as a compliment to historical-critical scholarship. In his introduction, Culpepper uses the analogy of the text as a window into another cultural context when approached from a historical, sociological, and theological critical perspective. He contrasts this analogy to seeing the text as a mirror that produces meaning in the "experience of reading the text as a whole" when approached from a literary critical point of view. Seen in this light, "the implicit purpose of the gospel narrative is to alter irrevocably the readers' perception of the real world" Culpepper asserts. His book focus on the narrator, narrative time, plot, characters, and the implicit commentary and readers of the gospel.
Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith by Marcus Borg - a good example of a genre of books written by members of the "Jesus Seminar" to illustrate the quest for the historical Jesus (as opposed to confessional Christ/Messiah). While this project threatens some Christians, Borg's work highlights Jesus' humanity and enables long-time followers of Jesus (like me) to relate to Jesus as a human being - and thus take inspiration from his very real, very human life.
Praying with the Body: Bringing the Psalms to Life by Roy DeLeon - this is the book we used for the body prayer exercise the second week we met (Psalm 34).
The Divine Hours (in three volumes) compiled by Phyllis Tickle - this is the book (the Winter volume) we used to read around the table the first day we met. You can also find these prayers of the hours online.
Resurrection: Myth or Reality? A Bishop's Search for the Origins of Christianity by John Shelby Spong - provides a fascinating take on the scriptures that communicate stories of the resurrection, beginning with Paul's 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, which Spong calls the earliest written account of the resurrection. Spong also concentrates on the resurrection account in John 21 and the parallel account in Luke 5:1-11 as a story of a resurrection Sunday "season". This book will challenge your notions of resurrection, but it demonstrates how a close reading of scripture can unveil new possibilities of meaning and understanding. In his book, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, John Dominic Crossan uses much the same exploratory reading style in his chapter titled: "How Many Years was Easter Sunday?"
Sex and the Single Savior: Gender and Sexuality in Biblical Interpretation by Dale Martin - a friend a colleague recommended this book to me after hearing about the story of Skyline Church the past few years. This book, as well as Martin's other book on this list, Pedagogy of the Bible, makes the case for discernment among the many ways of reading scripture (as opposed to privileging one reading - particularly the historical-critical reading). Martin also gave me the gift of seeing scripture as a vast cathedral space.
Pedagogy of the Bible: An Analysis and Proposal by Dale Martin - fleshes out more explicitly Martin's thesis of the need for discernment in the Christian community among the many readings and ways of reading and interpreting scripture. I liked especially Martins exposition of Premodern (Ancient and the High Middle Ages) Biblical Interpretation in this book - which gave me an appreciation of the many ways Christians have interpreted scripture through the centuries.
Reading the Bible Again for the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally by Marcus Borg - Jesus Seminar scholar who invites you to move from a "pre-critical naivete through critical thinking to a post-critical naivete" in comprehending the many meanings of scripture. Borg encourages us to participate in a dialogue with the writers and stories of scripture, so that they become our stories as well. This inspirational book asserts that the whole of scripture bears witness to God's ongoing overthrow of economic, political and religious powers in a cycle of exodus-liberation and exile-return.
The Bible: A Biography by Karen Armstrong - this may be the most accessible book by Karen Armstrong, who explores the origins and uses of our scriptures (Jewish and Christian). I especially appreciated how Armstrong explains how scripture writers recorded commentary of history rather than bare reporting or recording of history.
Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why by Bart Ehrman - great book that demonstrates the reality and causes of textual manuscript variants in our New Testament.Ehrman also explores the significance of these variants for Christians who see the Bible as more than a magical book. If you like this book, you might also be interested in Ehrman's Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them).
The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart by Peter Gomes -another inspiration for this course I read several years ago. Writes of scripture as a public, living, and inclusive word that "points to the truth" because it "comes from the truth that we call God". His book includes a helpful exploration of scriptural interpretation and twelve topical illustrations of scriptural interpretive discernment.
The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts by Israel Finkelstein and Asher Silberman - challenging and fascinating book presenting a story of scriptural origins supported by the latest archaeological finds. Finkelstein and Silberman draw on the learnings of archaeological surveys (covering large areas rather than specific sites in order to discover signs of broader cultural and migration patterns) to make a case that the Torah and historical books of the former prophets were compiled chiefly during Josiah's reign in the late 6th century BCE using ancient stories to interpret Israel's hopes for a new future.
God: A Biography by Jack Miles - Pulitzer-prizewinning book that examines the Hebrew Bible in the order in which the books were written from a literary critical perspective to make a case that God needs people in order to grow in self understanding as a literary character. Miles uses this unique perspective to present a reading that takes seriously the literary style and content of the Hebrew Bible.
Personal Mark by Alec McGowan - an actor who spent some time on Broadway reciting Mark (all the rage in the late 80's and early 90's, believe it or not) reflects on the things he learned while studying for this role as Gospel chronicler. In spite of McGowan's limited scholarly knowledge of scripture (he relies heavily on Barclay's commentaries on the New Testament), he brings a fresh perspective on the familiar stories of Marks' Gospel from a dramatic perspective.
Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel: A Study in Literary Design by Alan Culpepper - great book I used in divinity school as an introduction to a literary critical approach to interpreting the Gospel of John. Culpepper offers this more comprehensive approach to understanding and appreciating the fourth Gospel as a compliment to historical-critical scholarship. In his introduction, Culpepper uses the analogy of the text as a window into another cultural context when approached from a historical, sociological, and theological critical perspective. He contrasts this analogy to seeing the text as a mirror that produces meaning in the "experience of reading the text as a whole" when approached from a literary critical point of view. Seen in this light, "the implicit purpose of the gospel narrative is to alter irrevocably the readers' perception of the real world" Culpepper asserts. His book focus on the narrator, narrative time, plot, characters, and the implicit commentary and readers of the gospel.
Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith by Marcus Borg - a good example of a genre of books written by members of the "Jesus Seminar" to illustrate the quest for the historical Jesus (as opposed to confessional Christ/Messiah). While this project threatens some Christians, Borg's work highlights Jesus' humanity and enables long-time followers of Jesus (like me) to relate to Jesus as a human being - and thus take inspiration from his very real, very human life.
Praying with the Body: Bringing the Psalms to Life by Roy DeLeon - this is the book we used for the body prayer exercise the second week we met (Psalm 34).
The Divine Hours (in three volumes) compiled by Phyllis Tickle - this is the book (the Winter volume) we used to read around the table the first day we met. You can also find these prayers of the hours online.
Resurrection: Myth or Reality? A Bishop's Search for the Origins of Christianity by John Shelby Spong - provides a fascinating take on the scriptures that communicate stories of the resurrection, beginning with Paul's 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, which Spong calls the earliest written account of the resurrection. Spong also concentrates on the resurrection account in John 21 and the parallel account in Luke 5:1-11 as a story of a resurrection Sunday "season". This book will challenge your notions of resurrection, but it demonstrates how a close reading of scripture can unveil new possibilities of meaning and understanding. In his book, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, John Dominic Crossan uses much the same exploratory reading style in his chapter titled: "How Many Years was Easter Sunday?"
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