But is it practical? (Part 1)
Hello, everyone. Glenn Paauw has asked me to share some of my own thoughts with you, as a member of the team that helped IBS develop The Books of The Bible. If you've been following Glenn's series on "Why would you do that?" I'm sure that, in terms of the thinking and goals behind this edition, you really "get it" by now. But you may still have one hesitation: "Will this really be practical?" In other words, you may be thinking things like:
- "I'd probably enjoy using this as a reading Bible, but I don't think I'd use it as my study Bible."
- "This would be great for personal devotional reading, but I don't think it would work well in groups."
- "Come on, now, if we get rid of chapters and verses, the pastor's not going to stand up and say, 'Everybody open to the place in John where Jesus changes the water into wine.' "
I'd like to share some thoughts about each of these concerns, starting in this posting with the first one.
What exactly is the distinction between a "reading Bible" and a "study Bible?" (I've actually thought about this a lot, since I've been asked several times whether The Books of The Bible "isn't just a reading Bible.") The only conclusion I've been able to come to, based on the distinction that's being drawn, is that a "study Bible" is one you don't read.
Think of that--a book that you don't read! That's like a pool you don't swim in. You might check the pH from time to time and add chlorine if necessary. But you never jump in with both feet and come up beaming, shaking the water from your hair. You just "study" the pool.
Or it's like a meal that you don't eat. You might measure the internal temperature of the meat with a thermometer, or calculate the nutritional value of the food. But you never sit down at the table, brandishing knife and fork overhead for immediate use after a heartfelt but brief prayer of thanksgiving. You just "study" the meal.
That sounds awful to me. So why are we so eager to subject small sections of the biblical text to minute analysis, but never really read the books that make up the Bible? For that matter, why don't we realize that an eager, inquisitive reading through these books must provide the foundation for any study we wish to make of the smaller parts within them? I can't think of a better and more practical "study Bible" than one that makes it comfortable and enjoyable to do this foundational reading.
As Richard Moulton wrote in his preface to the Modern Reader's Bible,
The revelation which is the basis of our modern religion has been made in the form of literature. . . . And the best treatment for this literature is to read it. For those who wish there exists a vast apparatus of all kinds of helps in Bible study. But let us not forget the subtle and besetting danger in all literary study--that the process of studying tends to eclipse the literature itself. Scholarship can do much for the Bible: but imagination and literary receptivity can do more.
Pass the potatoes!
Chris Smith
Chris Smith is the pastor of University Baptist Church in East Lansing, MI and author of "The Beauty Behind the Mask: Rediscovering the Books of the Bible" from Clements Publishing.
- "I'd probably enjoy using this as a reading Bible, but I don't think I'd use it as my study Bible."
- "This would be great for personal devotional reading, but I don't think it would work well in groups."
- "Come on, now, if we get rid of chapters and verses, the pastor's not going to stand up and say, 'Everybody open to the place in John where Jesus changes the water into wine.' "
I'd like to share some thoughts about each of these concerns, starting in this posting with the first one.
What exactly is the distinction between a "reading Bible" and a "study Bible?" (I've actually thought about this a lot, since I've been asked several times whether The Books of The Bible "isn't just a reading Bible.") The only conclusion I've been able to come to, based on the distinction that's being drawn, is that a "study Bible" is one you don't read.
Think of that--a book that you don't read! That's like a pool you don't swim in. You might check the pH from time to time and add chlorine if necessary. But you never jump in with both feet and come up beaming, shaking the water from your hair. You just "study" the pool.
Or it's like a meal that you don't eat. You might measure the internal temperature of the meat with a thermometer, or calculate the nutritional value of the food. But you never sit down at the table, brandishing knife and fork overhead for immediate use after a heartfelt but brief prayer of thanksgiving. You just "study" the meal.
That sounds awful to me. So why are we so eager to subject small sections of the biblical text to minute analysis, but never really read the books that make up the Bible? For that matter, why don't we realize that an eager, inquisitive reading through these books must provide the foundation for any study we wish to make of the smaller parts within them? I can't think of a better and more practical "study Bible" than one that makes it comfortable and enjoyable to do this foundational reading.
As Richard Moulton wrote in his preface to the Modern Reader's Bible,
The revelation which is the basis of our modern religion has been made in the form of literature. . . . And the best treatment for this literature is to read it. For those who wish there exists a vast apparatus of all kinds of helps in Bible study. But let us not forget the subtle and besetting danger in all literary study--that the process of studying tends to eclipse the literature itself. Scholarship can do much for the Bible: but imagination and literary receptivity can do more.
Pass the potatoes!
Chris Smith
Chris Smith is the pastor of University Baptist Church in East Lansing, MI and author of "The Beauty Behind the Mask: Rediscovering the Books of the Bible" from Clements Publishing.
2 Comments:
You did not address the issues you raised, which were somewhat concerned with interaction between people, finding a common passage. As a personal reading text, I find the TNIV Book of Psalms very nice indeed, but when I try to use it in discipleship sessions, it is cumbersome and time consuming. I think the concerns are legitimate, though I am still looking forward to an unbroken reading experience when my copy of The Books of the Bible arrives.
That's exactly the subject Chris will bring up in part two of this series. And in part three, he'll talk about the third question of using it in a worship setting.
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