Bible Study Pilot Thread

[Bio-logical]

I am currently reading the bible. I purchased "The HarperCollins Study Bible : New Revised Standard Version With the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Book"
and just started, but I would like to discuss it with others. I was wondering if anybody might be interested in a weekly bible study/discussion/debate.

My wife does not like discussing it with me, since I am an atheist looking at it academically, but I would love to have a Christian, especially a biblically well-versed Christian, to go though this with and get their interpretation.

Depending on interest, I will start a user group and lead the discussion with a timeline. My goal is to read the entire bible over the next year.

I am considering switching versions if anybody would prefer KJV or basically whatever, specifically since I found a website that offers a timeline we could follow and complete it cover to cover over the next year, starting January 1.

http://www.ewordtoday.com/year/48/b.htm

I would like to point out that the format I propose is a weekly discussion of the scriptures read that week, debates will be asked to be held to that timeline or to spur into a new thread after that week is finished. I will post a link to the scripture being read next week with each coming week.

[FinalEnigma]

If I can get a study bible in the next week and a half, I'm in, though I can't guarantee my consistency - my interest in things is rather sporadic. I think I've got a regular bible around somewhere.

unless you mind an extrotheist?

[Bio-logical]

If I can get a study bible in the next week and a half, I'm in, though I can't guarantee my consistency - my interest in things is rather sporadic. I think I've got a regular bible around somewhere.

unless you mind an extrotheist?

It seems the tanach is basically the same as the OT, but I will be posting what is on the schedule to read anyway so you might just need to jump around a bit. I would love to have an extrotheist among our ranks, as well as perhaps a voyeur or two.

[Paul2]

My wife does not like discussing it with me, since I am an atheist looking at it academically, but I would love to have a Christian, especially a biblically well-versed Christian, to go though this with and get their interpretation.

I'm a Christian and I'm interested in participating.

[Bio-logical]

My wife does not like discussing it with me, since I am an atheist looking at it academically, but I would love to have a Christian, especially a biblically well-versed Christian, to go though this with and get their interpretation.

I'm a Christian and I'm interested in participating.

Welcome.

[Jayhawker Soule]

For the record, NEWER translations are more reliable and "less corrupted"; ...

There is simply no basis for making such a claim, although it is true that newer translations and commentaries have at their disposal far more information. What is critical is a commentary that makes clear the various witnesses available. In this regard, the JPS offering you suggest is fine, as is Etz Hayyim and Plaut. Even better might be The JPS Torah Commentary.

[micatala]

I am currently reading the bible. I purchased "The HarperCollins Study Bible : New Revised Standard Version With the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Book"
and just started, but I would like to discuss it with others. I was wondering if anybody might be interested in a weekly bible study/discussion/debate.

My wife does not like discussing it with me, since I am an atheist looking at it academically, but I would love to have a Christian, especially a biblically well-versed Christian, to go though this with and get their interpretation.

Depending on interest, I will start a user group and lead the discussion with a timeline. My goal is to read the entire bible over the next year.

I am considering switching versions if anybody would prefer KJV or basically whatever, specifically since I found a website that offers a timeline we could follow and complete it cover to cover over the next year, starting January 1.

http://www.ewordtoday.com/year/48/b.htm

I would like to point out that the format I propose is a weekly discussion of the scriptures read that week, debates will be asked to be held to that timeline or to spur into a new thread after that week is finished. I will post a link to the scripture being read next week with each coming week.

I would be up for it and I also have the same Harper Collins NRSV study Bible.

[Bio-logical]

So far I have had requests for a few different texts or translations, so what I think I will be doing is posting which books and chapters to read and allowing whichever translation people have on hand or prefer, therefore giving us a bigger diversity in texts. I will start with the canonical books of the OT (and thus the Tanach) listing the names in the order of reading.

I plan to use the KJV reading plan.

I plan to finish with the apocrypha after the canonical bible and iscuss why or why not they might have been kept out.

This seem acceptable so far?

[cnorman18]

Sounds good to me. I also have an Oxford Annotated and various Jewish commentaries and translations - Fox, Friedman, Elliot, and so on.

I suggest we do this in another subforum; I don't want to be hamstrung by having to accept Christian doctrine about the Bible's teachings in this one.

I would also suggest that we explicitly leave the topic of whether or not the Bible is literally true aside. It is perfectly possible to discuss the Bible, the narratives in it, and the various perspectives on its teachings without deciding that issue; there is more than a millenium of Jewish scholarship and debate to prove that. We will instantly be bogged down with whether or not the Flood actually happened if we don't specifically set that topic aside at the outset, and there have already been plenty of threads on that topic and related ones.

[Heterodoxus]

And how about allowing an apostate graduate seminarian and former Christian pastor/[strike]evangandist[/strike] evangelist to join such a group?

Because it's the most popular version in Christiandom, I suggest studying the KJV and then comparing other Bible versions and sacred writings, like the Talmud, Tanakh, and possibly the Qu'ran(?), to its content for a broader view of the teachings within the Abrahamic faiths.

[center][/center]

[Bio-logical]

Sounds good to me. I also have an Oxford Annotated and various Jewish commentaries and translations - Fox, Friedman, Elliot, and so on.

I suggest we do this in another subforum; I don't want to be hamstrung by having to accept Christian doctrine about the Bible's teachings in this one.

I would also suggest that we explicitly leave the topic of whether or not the Bible is literally true aside. It is perfectly possible to discuss the Bible, the narratives in it, and the various perspectives on its teachings without deciding that issue; there is more than a millenium of Jewish scholarship and debate to prove that. We will instantly be bogged down with whether or not the Flood actually happened if we don't specifically set that topic aside at the outset, and there have already been plenty of threads on that topic and related ones.

I agree that we this is to be a bible study thread, just as studying any other piece of literature it should be done as such, without debate as to its veracity. This does not mean, however, that contradictions and implications of a literal interpretation cannot be discussed.