Good Bible study series?

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coopnann

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The last few weeks at our parish there are a few of us who have done a light Scripture study on the Sunday readings. We have decided we want to study more of the Bible, but more in depth.

Some have commented on watching the series on the History channel, The Bible, that seeing it makes them want to know more and understand more both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Others in the group agreed to the above and suggested they have really liked Beth Moore and Joyce Meyer. They said it tied in their own lives and they felt like they learned a lot.

So based on the above, I am trying to find a good Catholic study of the Bible, and something that will not be dry in presentation.

I read that Jeff Cavins is good, but I see that it is very expensive. Our parish is tiny, and I know that money is very tight here. Maybe it is the DVDs that make a series very expensive?

Can anyone recommend a good Bible study series or book/s (that we could discuss as a gorup) that you have enjoyed and is not too pricey?

Thanks for any help!!!
 
There are some really good studies at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology: salvationhistory.com/studies/courses/online

They should be enough to get you started, but I encourage others to post as I am also always looking for Catholic Bible study materials, preferably those that are free and online.
 
Go and check out the Agape Catholic Bible study, it should suit your needs. Just Google it to get there:)
 
I am doing a Women’s Bible Study using Reason’s for Our Hope. It was an EWTN series done by Rosalind Moss before she became Mother Miriam of the Lamb of God. You can get the DVDs for the series and the study guides ($10) on Catholic.com. The audio for the series is free on EWTN (just search for Rosalind Moss). We have about 25 women in the group and the series is fabulous!!!
 
One of the series we use in our parish is from the Little Rock Scripture Study.
 
My parish is also very small and does not have much money. We used the DVD series by Jeff Cavins and Scott Hahn called “Our Father’s Plan”. The first time we went through it, we borrowed it from our neighboring deanery. All we had to purchase (decided to…you can just watch it) was the workbooks. It was great. Now, I think you can find the DVD set for around $50.00.
 
There are a couple people on this website who have bible study materials that may fit the bill. They will probably show up here to guide you. one is COPELAND
 
Thank you so much for all the suggestions!

I am looking into them, and will try to decide which one to go with. Hopefully someone in our group will look into them with me to help me decide. And whichever one we decide on I will keep all these for reference for another possible time. Great to have all these different ones to look at.

For those that have used these, did you find them interesting? Asking because in the past I have been in a study or two that were more on the dry side on teaching the info.

THanks so much again!!!
 
coopnann said:
Others in the group agreed to the above and suggested they have really liked Beth Moore and Joyce Meyer. They said it tied in their own lives and they felt like they learned a lot.
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Neither Beth Moore nor Joyce Meyer are Catholic. What they teach is not consistent with Catholicism. I would avoid these. They have no place in a Catholic Church.
TwinMommy said:
If you can do an inductive Bible study I highly recommend it.precept.org/You can also do a search for other sites. They are very indepth. There isn’t commentary. Say you were doing Romans, you could spend a year doing. Once you learn how to do the study it can be used with any book of the Bible.

inductivebiblicalstudy.com/
inductivebiblestudy.net/
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Precept.org is not Catholic. It teaches much error. I would avoid this as well.

None of these are good studies to bring into a Catholic Church or Catholic home.

The best Catholic studies are now put out by Jeff Cavins. biblestudyforcatholics.com/. I have run these in my parish and in my home for several years. They are outstanding.

-Tim-
 
Dear Coopnann,
In our parish we also tried lectio divina on the upcoming Sunday Gospel. Attendance dwindled. For the Year of Faith we are reading through “Bible Basics” by Steve Kellmeyer. Instead of focusing on a certain book of the Bible, it focuses on Catholic doctrines (the Trinity, Scripture, Sacraments, Sacramentals, Mary, Prayer) and cites relevant scriptures. Attendance has stayed steady.
 
TimothyH said:
Neither Beth Moore nor Joyce Meyer are Catholic. What they teach is not consistent with Catholicism. I would avoid these. They have no place in a Catholic Church.

Precept.org is not Catholic. It teaches much error. I would avoid this as well.

None of these are good studies to bring into a Catholic Church or Catholic home.

The best Catholic studies are now put out by Jeff Cavins. biblestudyforcatholics.com/. I have run these in my parish and in my home for several years. They are outstanding.

-Tim-
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I haven’t found it teaches any error. I got about half way thru Romans before I moved. It was all studying it and seeking out the meaning of all of it on your own. Yeah I would say stay away from the video teachings but in our class we never used those. It is all about digging into there thing on your own.
 
coopnann said:
I read that Jeff Cavins is good, but I see that it is very expensive. Our parish is tiny, and I know that money is very tight here. Maybe it is the DVDs that make a series very expensive?
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The DVDs are where the cost lies – the individual materials usually only go for about $20 a person. Do you need the DVDs? Would the CDs suffice? (They’re less expensive.) Maybe you could ask around – have neighboring parishes used the ‘Great Adventure Timeline’ series? If so, perhaps you could borrow their DVDs? Perhaps your deanery might have information on which parishes, if any, in your area have hosted the series. If not, perhaps the adult formation office in your diocese might be able to help identify such a parish.

Is there some organization in (or near) your parish that would be willing to make a donation for the sake of helping encourage adult formation and Bible study? Is there a Knights of Columbus council at your parish or in your area?

Heck, for that matter – could you approach your pastor and ask whether you could run a bake sale some weekend, as a way to do fund-raising for parish Bible study materials? Is there some other fund-raising idea that you could use?
 
coopnann said:
I read that Jeff Cavins is good, but I see that it is very expensive. Our parish is tiny, and I know that money is very tight here. Maybe it is the DVDs that make a series very expensive?
Click to expand...
I have participated in Jeff Cavins’ studies, and I can’t say enough about them. The Bible Timeline study is fundamental, and will impact how you study Scripture for the rest of your life. If the 24 hour lessons version is too expensive, I would encourage you to consider the version called “A Quick Journey through the Bible.” This is a shorter version containing 8 half-hour lessons. I have had the opportunity to attend both ‘live’ and from my experience, you will hear 80-90% in this shorter version of what is presented in the longer version, although at a faster pace and with less detail. The price of this version is very reasonable, with CDs costing less than $40 and DVDs costing less than $100: ascensionpress.com/t/category/study-programs/catholic-bible-study/adult-bible-study/quick-journey You can also supplement this study with a book containing much of the Bible Timeline information called “Walking with God: A Journey through the Bible”: ascensionpress.com/products/walking-with-god-a-journey-through-the-bible

I also have looked at the free online and audio study programs by Scott Hahn (mentioned above) at: salvationhistory.com/ They look great as well.

In Christ,
rocketrob
 
Gorgias said:
The DVDs are where the cost lies – the individual materials usually only go for about $20 a person. Do you need the DVDs? Would the CDs suffice? (They’re less expensive.) Maybe you could ask around – have neighboring parishes used the ‘Great Adventure Timeline’ series? If so, perhaps you could borrow their DVDs? Perhaps your deanery might have information on which parishes, if any, in your area have hosted the series. If not, perhaps the adult formation office in your diocese might be able to help identify such a parish.

Is there some organization in (or near) your parish that would be willing to make a donation for the sake of helping encourage adult formation and Bible study? Is there a Knights of Columbus council at your parish or in your area?

Heck, for that matter – could you approach your pastor and ask whether you could run a bake sale some weekend, as a way to do fund-raising for parish Bible study materials? Is there some other fund-raising idea that you could use?
Click to expand...
Our parish contacted Biblestudyforcatholics.com directly. They flew two trainers from Minneapolis to Altanta for a day and trained about fifteen of us as facilitators on how to run the small groups. We have a sales rep whom we can contact and work closely with her, and can even get a message to Jeff Cavins to ask a question if we want.

My parish pays for the DVD’s which the facilitators have to give back at the end of the study and the individual members of the study pay for the books. This way everyone has some “Skin in the game”. We try to stagger studies so that no two groups are doing the same week of the same study at the same time and can trade off a few weeks worth of DVD’s as needed in the parking lot after Mass.

I have run “The Bible Timeline” in my home twice and “The Gospel of Matthew: The King and his Kingdom” once. I am starting a study of the Book of Acts later this month. Some choose to do the study in a classroom at the Church. One man hosted it at his office after work. One lady did one at the local library. I have been toying with the idea of doing one over webex.

Several hundred in my parish have gone through The Bible Timeline and probably on to others as well. I’ve made many, many good friends by having people in my home weekly. That people would gather around my dining room table, pray and study God’s word in my home is truly amazing and has blessed both me and my home in ways I can’t describe.

Talk to your pastor. The bake sale idea sounds awesome. Call up biblestudyforcatholics.com and see what they are willing to offer.

-Tim-
 
The best part about the studies from Jeff Cavins/Bible Timeline is that they are organically and authentically Catholic.

In the very first video of the very first session of the very first study, Jeff Cavins walks onto the set and says, “The Catechism of the Catholic Church says…” and goes on to teach from the Catechism.

This is not a non-Catholic set of studies reworked for Catholics. This is organically Catholic - written by Catholics for Catholics.

-Tim-
 
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