Session 6
How Shall We Read the Bible?
Introduction to the Bible
Our reading of the Bible raises a number of questions. Even when we understand what the Bible contains or how people have interpreted that, and long after we have chosen a translation that we feel best speaks to us, we are still left seeking answers. Why did God give us this book? What are we supposed to be looking for as we read it? When is it more or less helpful for us? How do we relate what we find in the scriptures to life with other people? How do the thoughts of people who have been dead for thousands of year affect the world in which we live?
In fact, the dynamic nature of the scriptures indicates that we are supposed to have more questions than answers. The Bible is meant to be returned to over and over, with each trip yielding new treasures. Having explored the Bible and its historic impact, the question that remains is how all of this will form us and how we can actively work to let the Bible do this. This session focuses on ways we can work with our reading of scripture in such a way as to let the Spirit guide us in this work.
Session Video Lecture
Suggested Resources
Please give attention to these suggested materials:
Bonus Video!. “Did I Read That Right? Reading Scripture and the road Out of Southern White Supremacy” From our “America in Crisis” course.
Some terms to look up:
Biblical Commentary, apocalypse, eschatology, ex eventu prophecy, Lectio Divina, ecumenism, full communion, Ignatian contemplation
After the Session: Research, Action, and Reflection
Bible Layers Project Part 6
Your Own Context
Last week you wrote a sermon, Bible study, essay, presentation, etc connecting the research you have done on your passage to what you believe God is calling us to do and to be in this time and place. Now present it! Find a place and people to share with. As you prepare for your presentation look back over your work and consider how it will be heard by your audience. Were there places over the last several weeks that this material was challenging, encouraging, disturbing, enlightening? Your audience might feel the same way! Think through your work and consider how your ideas can best be framed to be the most beneficial to your audience and make any needed revision to your presentation. With the psalmist, pray: “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.“
Roger Jasper
Original Live Session Instructor – Project Designer
Roger Jasper has served as pastor of Living Faith since July of 2010 and has been in pastoral ministry since 2003. Roger holds a BA (double major in Religion and Philosophy) from Georgetown College, an MDiv from Baptist Seminary of Kentucky, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Baptistic Histories and Theologies from the University of Manchester. Currently, he is working toward a Ph.D. at the International Baptist Study Centre in Amsterdam (formerly in Rüschlikon and Prague). Roger came to know Christ at a young age through the teaching of his grandmother and was later baptized into Slate Branch Baptist Church of Somerset, KY. Slate Branch also ordained him in 2004 during his first pastorate.
Dr. Dalen Jackson
Academic Dean and Professor of Biblical Studies
Dalen C. Jackson came to BSK in the Fall of 2002 and has served since 2007 as Academic Dean and Professor of Biblical Studies. He was ordained to Christian Ministry in 1987 and served churches in Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Indiana, and Georgia as pastor and interim pastor, youth minister, children’s director, recreation assistant and in a variety of lay roles. Prior to coming to BSK, he was chair of the Division of External Studies at Judson College in Marion, Alabama and chair of the Humanities Division and head of the Theology Department at Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland, Georgia.
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