How to Get Started

  • Thread starter Thread starter CatholicSooner
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

CatholicSooner

Guest
So I am looking for some advice on how to get more involved in scripture and church teaching.
I’ve never read the Bible cover to cover but have been going to mass since birth. I know a lot of the stories and main themes. I want to read the entire Bible to gain more knowledge and understanding but the task seems to daunting.

And I also want to read books on our faith ( i love hahn books). I want to do daily studies but honestly, with three kids and by the time I get home I am wiped out. So I don’t feel like I would be able to read the bible and books on our faith. REading books interests me more but reading the bible seems more important to me b/c it is the Bible. But that I may be able to gain more out of books explaining the Bible.

I guess I’m not sure where to start and was wondering what others have done in the past or their thoughts?
 
You might try the Catholic Home Study Service: amm.org/chss/chss.asp

In particular, it sounds like A Catholic Guide to the Bible might be a helpful book for you. You can go at your own pace, so you don’t have to rush through it or try to fit it in on days when life is just too hectic.

There are some great audio CDs at both Lighthouse Catholic Media’s website, and Dynamic Catholic’s website, and both sites offer some free resources, as well. I think the Lighthouse site even has a Bible Study app.

There are also some good Catholic DVD sets out there (Fr. Barron’s Catholicism series comes to mind) if you are more “visual.”

HTH! 🙂
 
I recommend the Igantius New Testament Study Bible. Here’s a link to the paperback version.

amazon.com/Ignatius-Catholic-Study-Bible-Testament/dp/1586172506/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394561089&sr=8-1&keywords=ignatius+catholic+study+bible

I bought it in the faux leather version at my local bookstore. I started in Matthew and am in John right now. I am getting so much out of the study notes. I am seeing things in Scripture that I have never seen or understood before. All the notes are approved by the Church and were co-authored by Scott Hahn. I love it.
 
Don’t worry about reading the Bible cover to cover, that’s not the best way to read it anyhow. I’d suggest committing to reading one chapter a day of the Bible. Start with one of the Gospels. Once you finish one book of the Bible, pick another. Keep going on like that and eventually you’ll find you’ve read the whole thing. In the meanwhile, block out some time to read other books (like those Hahn books you love). God bless.
 
PietroPaolo said:
Don’t worry about reading the Bible cover to cover, that’s not the best way to read it anyhow. I’d suggest committing to reading one chapter a day of the Bible. Start with one of the Gospels. Once you finish one book of the Bible, pick another. Keep going on like that and eventually you’ll find you’ve read the whole thing. In the meanwhile, block out some time to read other books (like those Hahn books you love). God bless.
Click to expand...
Most of the Old testament is in chronoligical order though correct? My brain wants to read things in order. I
 
CatholicSooner said:
Most of the Old testament is in chronoligical order though correct? My brain wants to read things in order. I
Click to expand...
Not entirely. Job, for example, lived sometime before Abraham, so the Book of Job would fall somewhere between Gen 1 (creation) and Gen 12 (Abraham). You have to remember that the Bible is a collection of writings that were assembled by the Church to be proclaimed at Mass. It is only very recently in Church history that laypeople could sit and read the Bible, cover to cover and it wasn’t organized with that in mind. I’d recommend reading A Father Who Keeps His Promises by Scott Hahn before tackling the Old Testament. It’s short and gives a great structural framework to understand the narrative in the OT. It’s not too hard either, I use it (with adjustments for their age level) to teach sixth grade CCD.
 
You can almost think about reading the Bible cover to cover like going to the library and deciding you’re going to read every book there A-Z. That isn’t necessarily the best order, but it can be done. I wouldn’t recommend it because it can be confusing and most people won’t make it past Leviticus, but if you want to, just try reading a certain number of chapters every day and you’ll make your way through it.

Another way of reading the Bible is to follow along with the lectionary, the readings from Mass each day. Over the course of 3 years you’ll cover the whole lectionary, which is a lot of the Bible, but not all of it.

Any way you decide to go though, it is always a great idea to make reading the Bible a part of your daily routine.
 
PietroPaolo said:
Not entirely. Job, for example, lived sometime before Abraham, so the Book of Job would fall somewhere between Gen 1 (creation) and Gen 12 (Abraham). You have to remember that the Bible is a collection of writings that were assembled by the Church to be proclaimed at Mass. It is only very recently in Church history that laypeople could sit and read the Bible, cover to cover and it wasn’t organized with that in mind. I’d recommend reading A Father Who Keeps His Promises by Scott Hahn before tackling the Old Testament. It’s short and gives a great structural framework to understand the narrative in the OT. It’s not too hard either, I use it (with adjustments for their age level) to teach sixth grade CCD.
Click to expand...
Thanks!
 
EmeraldOak said:
I recommend the Igantius New Testament Study Bible. Here’s a link to the paperback version.

amazon.com/Ignatius-Catholic-Study-Bible-Testament/dp/1586172506/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394561089&sr=8-1&keywords=ignatius+catholic+study+bible

I bought it in the faux leather version at my local bookstore. I started in Matthew and am in John right now. I am getting so much out of the study notes. I am seeing things in Scripture that I have never seen or understood before. All the notes are approved by the Church and were co-authored by Scott Hahn. I love it.
Click to expand...
I agree very much. The Igantius Study Bible is excellent.
 
CatholicSooner said:
So I am looking for some advice on how to get more involved in scripture and church teaching.
I’ve never read the Bible cover to cover but have been going to mass since birth. I know a lot of the stories and main themes. I want to read the entire Bible to gain more knowledge and understanding but the task seems to daunting.

And I also want to read books on our faith ( i love hahn books). I want to do daily studies but honestly, with three kids and by the time I get home I am wiped out. So I don’t feel like I would be able to read the bible and books on our faith. REading books interests me more but reading the bible seems more important to me b/c it is the Bible. But that I may be able to gain more out of books explaining the Bible.

I guess I’m not sure where to start and was wondering what others have done in the past or their thoughts?
Click to expand...
Have you looked into Bible Studies at your Church? Also, does your Church offer Adult Faith Formation courses. These are two very good ways to discover more about your faith & Church teaching.
 
First, there are some excellent free resources.

There’s a really great audio series available from EWTN: ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/seriessearchprog.asp?seriesID=6029&T1=scripture

Here’s another one: ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/seriessearchprog.asp?seriesID=-306548622

Here’s the first lesson of a wonderful online “course” in starting to read the Bible: salvationhistory.com/studies/lesson/genesis_how_a_catholic_starts_to_read_the_bible.

Finally, if you want to eventually purchase a commentary, I would recommend the Navarre Bible volumes, specifically the ones that exist as a ten volume set. They can (and perhaps should) be purchased individually, and they are broken down like this:


  1. *]Pentateuch
    *]Joshua to Kings
    *]Chronicles to Maccabees
    *]Wisdom Books
    *]The Psalms
    *]Major Prophets
    *]Minor Prophets
    *]Gospels and Acts
    *]The Letters of St. Paul
    *]Revelation and Hebrews and Catholic Letters

    Whilst I will grant that purchasing this set will run you something like 400 USD, I think it would be perfectly reasonable to spend a couple of years accumulating these volumes. These books are between ~ 360 and 900 pages long, and if you really want to dig deeply into the Scriptures, they will certainly each take several months to read through.

    I appreciate time constraints and the fact that there is much to do in life besides sitting around reading books. But as much as I genuinely love the contributions the Ignatius Study Bible has made to Catholic Scriptural literacy, I find it to simply be too abbreviated for my own tastes. On the other hand, it’s very affordable, and can be an incredibly useful tool to get started with. But all other things being equal–which they’re not–the Navarre is like the sun to an Ignatius candle.

    (Edit: As an example of the type of sources the Navarre uses, the volume Joshua-Kings quotes from a total of 32 Church commentators throughout history; individuals like St. Augustine, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, Origen, St. Maximillian Kolbe, St. Jerome, St. Irenaeus, and many others. The other volumes are comparable.)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top