Good place to start reading the bible or bible study guide ideas?

[aasusiq68]

What would be a good starting spot in the Catholic Bible to start studying or a good bible study to use? I am wanting to put the bible I received in RCIA this year to good use and just really not sure of a good place to start. I honestly do not want to start in the front and read through the end without any kind of guidance either. There seems to be s ton of studies online, just wanted to see if there was someone who had an idea of a good one to use. I am new to the Catholic church, though I grew up protestant, I have not had any relationship with God in over 20 years til starting now.

 

[TimothyH]

The best Bible studies available right now are from Great Adventure/Jeff Cavins.

You will want to start with The Bible Timeline which is an overview of the Bible. The DVD’s are expensive but a dozen people could chip in. My parish buys the DVD’s and we recycle them through various groups while the individual members buy the study guides.

This is not a re-working of a non-Catholic study. This is authenically and organically Catholic. The Bible Timeline will give you an excellent overview of the Bible.

ascensionpress.com/t/category/study-programs/catholic-bible-study/adult-bible-study/timeline

It is worth the investment.

-Tim-

 

[Miserissima]

Please get the book A Catholic Guide to The Bible from Catholic Home Study Services. It is my go-to reference for reconciling contradictions and explaining literary forms of different books, and reading the Bible in context…
amm.org/chss/chss.asp

“Explains Catholic principles of interpreting the Bible. Takes the student through the Bible, offering pertinent information about the historical background, author, and literary style of each book. Selects readable passages from each book of the Bible so that the student can become familiar with the whole Bible and understand it as the Word of God.”

 

[tomgosse]

An excellent on-line Catholic resource is Agape Bible Study. I’m using it now, and find it a great help. And it’s free!

 

[tawny]

What would be a good starting spot in the Catholic Bible to start studying or a good bible study to use? I am wanting to put the bible I received in RCIA this year to good use and just really not sure of a good place to start. I honestly do not want to start in the front and read through the end without any kind of guidance either. There seems to be s ton of studies online, just wanted to see if there was someone who had an idea of a good one to use. I am new to the Catholic church, though I grew up protestant, I have not had any relationship with God in over 20 years til starting now.

Have you checked with your Parish or any other Parish in your area to see if they offer a Bible Study Program? You may want to start with one Gospel, say Matthew, & then read one chapter at a time, reflecting on the story. Picture yourself in the story. That form of reading is called Contemplative ready or Lectio Divina.

 

[David_Eckel]

Regarding “The Great Adventure” series, which is both excellent and expensive: Jeff Cavins and Tim Gray condensed it into the book “Walking With God.” Much cheaper to start with, and the same material.

SpiritCatholicRadio.com airs two of the Great Adventure studies via their Listen Live button on their homepage. Tuesday’s at 10a.m. CST, Fridays at 8p.m.

I would recommend, until you find a study/program that suits you and your wallet, to start with the Gospels. Yes, there is much that needs explaining at times, but they are a great place to start.

 

[catholicscot]

The Old Testament can be tricky without a good guide. In the meantime, though, while considering all these various suggestions I recommend reading the Books of Ruth, Jonah, Esther and Tobit. They are good stories, fairly short and good ways to break the ice as it were of OT reading.

 

[aasusiq68]

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. The ones that were for sale did seem like a wonderful thing, however it just is not in this single mom’s budget. So I am going to try the free one that was suggested instead.

 

[Nelka]

The Gospel of St. John.

 

[sirach2v4]

The Gospel of St. John.

I just read through a two-volume set of commentaries on this gospel. The “early church fathers” (usually bishops who wrote commentaries up through about 600 AD) have a lot to say about this gospel.

It takes some study to see this point, but the fathers thought he wrote this gospel to fill in and/or expand on the other three gospels, or to address some early heresies in the Church.

It’s about 21 chapters, which isn’t too much reading, I don’t think.

If you’ve been through RCIA, I’m assuming you at least know about the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The edition in the dark green cover has a list in the back that helps you see some paragraphs in the CCC that correspond to whatever book you’re reading in the Bible.

There are a lot of people around here who will give you a lot of good suggestions.

 

[canmore]

Hi, some good information here. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good Catholic Bible commentary?

 

[discernmentinpr]

I recently attended an all day Scripture class at my diocesan center, which focused exclusively on the New Testament. I do find OT literature nice, but I really enjoy the NT.

Here are my favorites…

1. Pauline Letters, specifically Romans- I love the missionary zeal of St. Paul’s words.
2. Gospel of John - I love the almost lyrical nature of it.
3. Revelation- I love this book. It is simply awesome.

 

[fred_conty]

The four gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John, are rather easy reading and will keep your interest. There is nothing better than reading the very source when getting to know Jesus. So reading the gospels puts you at the very source.

My own personal preference would be Mathew first, for he is to me the easiest read and the more comprehensive in terms of what Jesus did.

But it is good to read them all so you have a good knowledge of Jesus, for that is what is most important. And at the start I would not use a bible study but just let what he did enter into your heart. Try to open your heart and mind up to Jesus as you read these narratives of his life. If there is something you don’t understand, just let it go temporarily so you don’t get bogged down or maybe even disheartened. Research can come later.

One final suggestion, always always begin with a prayer to ask God to help you get the most from his words. For without him we can do nothing. And with him all things are possible.

May God bless and keep you. May God’s face shine on you. May God be kind to you and give you peace.

 

[Mike_Dye]

I always recommend that the people going through my RCIA class begin reading one of the Gospel accounts and to start “praying” the psalms. That is a good starting point. I devote two whole sessions on Holy Scripture to help those who are not familiar with the bible get started out on the right foot.

 

[Basilian]

If you’re starved for money or resources, I believe the best way to study the scriptures is to begin with the Gospel of John, having the commentaries of Saint Augustine and Saint John Chrysostom by your side. Both are online at the “NewAdvent” Catholic Encyclopedia:

Augustine: newadvent.org/fathers/1701.htm
Chrysostom: newadvent.org/fathers/2401.htm

Each Father works through every sentence and phrase in the Gospel, according to his own powers of reasoning, prayer, and faith. It is beautiful to go very slowly through each.

I also would recommend Augustine’s commentaries ('enarrations") on the Psalms, because the Psalms are the most important prayer of the Church. They are the very words our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ used through His whole life. They contain the words used even now by the angels and saints worshiping God in Heaven. We should know them well.

Augustine’s commentary: newadvent.org/fathers/1801.htm

 

[David_Eckel]

St. Francis sent me the following yesterday. It’s a lot but most, if not all, is free,

Hi David,
Here is a general list that i keep so I don’t have to re-write everything:

My list may be superceded by this one

catholicview.wordpress.com/re…atholic-audio/

Forgot this one!!! Where I found John Rao’s talks

alabamacatholicresources.com/

Links:

Quick articles I found helpful (or regretted not having sooner!) Handling people’s “drive-by” comments about the Church

About Discernment and decision-m
aking

mrstreasures.wordpress.com/20…e-will-of-god/

When has one prayed enough? Good advice and good comments too!

Librivox page of Douay Rheims readings Librivox is an organization of volunteer readers. This page has what they have recorded of the Douay Rheims, which seems to be the Deuterocanonicals and the NT–about the 9th one down right now–the link takes you to a page on which the downloadable, 1-hour parts are linked. Use the zip file if you are downloading to a computer. I don’t know how the zip file works on an iPod or similar.

Go ahead and search for other out-of-copyright books. They have quite a few of interest to Catholics, including several of GK Chesterton’s books and Introduction to the Devout Life.

Mp3 audio Scriptural Rosary

A review of iPieta. Run a search for the version on your platform or search for it in your platform’s store if you want to get it.

Teacher’s edition of Baltimore Catechism which includes explanations

A page on which are linked the sections of several catechisms, including the current CCC, under the appropriate topic, so if you are studying one topic in one, you can easily find alternate explanations.

A note on the Baltimore Cathecism: this comes in several versions some of which are simplified for the use of children. I hope to find one page listing them all soon.

Radio Replies These were a series of collections of letters and answers to 2 Australian priests from the 1930s to the 1960s or so. These are excellent, and a bonus for me is I always feet like my mind has been sharpened up when I read them Very thorough explanations of Catholic teaching, and often answering somewhat antagonistic questions and so an excellent resource for people who get a lot of questions about their Faith.

Sonitus Sanctus. A blog containing links to many online audio resources of interest to Catholics. Altho he has not posted very much since he married and had a baby, there was so much up there that it is also a wonderful resource.

Sermons in MP3 and podcast version on many Catholic topics. On the right, there are headings to where the sermons are sorted by topic, so this is helpful when learning.

Catholic ebooks, similar to Sontitus Santus above, only with Catholic e-books online.

Don’t be overwhelmed by all this; it is a list I have developed over the course of many years and should be considered as more of a library than a list of textbooks for one course.

This does not seem as high level as the program you are investigating, but it is much less expensive.

I understand the difficulties of books… i would much rather have real books, but to be honest, to get the books just in IPieta would cost more than the app and the iPod! which is the latest one.

Best of luck to you with your endeavor

---

“The Church is intolerant in principle because she believes; she is tolerant in practice because she loves. The enemies of the Church are tolerant in principle because they do not believe; they are intolerant in practice because they do not love.”
-Rev. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange O.P

 

[Tous_Logous]

What would be a good starting spot in the Catholic Bible to start studying or a good bible study to use? I am wanting to put the bible I received in RCIA this year to good use and just really not sure of a good place to start. I honestly do not want to start in the front and read through the end without any kind of guidance either. There seems to be s ton of studies online, just wanted to see if there was someone who had an idea of a good one to use. I am new to the Catholic church, though I grew up protestant, I have not had any relationship with God in over 20 years til starting now.

Start reading the New Testament. Read through the whole New Testament once. Interesting Old Testament books that you can maybe read along with the NT are the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and/or Sirach. The “Wisdom” books of the OT are great reads to start out with if you find the OT very daunting your first time through.

Once you’re done reading the NT one time through, start from the beginning of Genesis and make your way through the OT. It can be difficult but it is rewarding. You might find Leviticus and Numbers very challenging to get through though.

I don’t know of any specific Catholic Bible studies to use because I really don’t use them myself. I find that I get very little out of Bible studies. If you are looking for a good Bible that has some study footnotes, the 1966 Jerusalem Bible is perfect (the print can be very small; not good for people who have bad eyes).

Or if you find all of the advice I gave above too difficult to start out with you can always read the daily Mass readings in your Bible instead.

 

[iggy35]

Relative to reading/studying the Old testament - how many of you actually read through all the different lineage accounts and/or read through all of the different lists of people who went to what parts of the country?

I can’t even begin to wrap my head around any of that. Any ideas on getting through this part of the Bible.

Thanks.

 

[PJM]

=aasusiq68;11881104]What would be a good starting spot in the Catholic Bible to start studying or a good bible study to use? I am wanting to put the bible I received in RCIA this year to good use and just really not sure of a good place to start. I honestly do not want to start in the front and read through the end without any kind of guidance either. There seems to be s ton of studies online, just wanted to see if there was someone who had an idea of a good one to use. I am new to the Catholic church, though I grew up protestant, I have not had any relationship with God in over 20 years til starting now.

Personally, I recommend Beginning with the New Testament first.

Here’s why:

1. It seems to have more cocnsitant relevence to today
2. It’s shorter than the OT so you woun’t be as likely to get discouraged
3. Saint Augustine taught: “The New Testament is HIDDEN in the Old; and the Old is revealed in the New.”

The OT can be a difficult read and confusing to understand if we don’t know where its leading and what its leading too.

1. The Bible will make more sense to you, if you take this advice:thumbsup:

WELCOME HOME!

God Bless you,
Patrick

 

[Fidelis]

Reading the Scriptures with the Church throughout the year is a good place to start. I have a weekly Bible study for the Sunday Mass Readings (focusing on the Gospel reading). You can find it at my website, linked below, along with many other helpful resources.