Inductive Bible Studies

[BCven86]

I participate in an organization at school through which I have come into a lot of contact with non-Catholics. In their own pursuit of God they put a lot of emphasis on Bible studies, specifically ‘Inductive’ Bible studies. If you guys are unfamiliar with this word, basically they single out a peace of scripture and break it down sentence by sentence, word by word. I’ve got to be honest, I’ve never enjoyed doing these much, and I’m trying to come to terms on why.

 I have been trying to decide whether this is my own preference or whether this is something ingrained in me as a Catholic. I have a protestant friend that argues that even as a Catholic I should be interested in learning how to interpret and read the Bible on my own and that this type of study should not conflict with Catholicism as we both believe in the infallibility of scripture(and thus it must be a personal issue of mine). I see that this type of study is very *sola-scriptura-esque*, devoid of the Authority and Interpretation of the Church and thus off, or limited in some manner.

Are inductive Bible studies lacking in some degree? Is this something that most Catholics would agree with me on, or is this rather something that I have developed that is more of a personal issue and therefore should work to enjoy them more?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Cat]

I was evangelical Protestant all my life until I became Catholic at the age of 47.

I never liked inductive Bible studies. There is so much scholarship lacking in many of the leaders and participants of such studies.

To me, it makes no sense to break verses down word by word if you are not using the original languages and if you don’t have a really good knowledge of the history and culture of the times in which the passages were written.

But so few people truly know Hebrew and Greek well enough to translate; what they generally do is rely on a written guide by another person, often a professor of Bible, who knows the language. So right there, we find a “fallacy” of inductive Bible study–it’s not your own interpretation, it’s the interpretation of someone else.

And even fewer people know all about ancient history. If I were to ask a dozen people which time in history the book of Ezekiel was written, they would say, “Umm…”

So I think these inductive studies are really not all that inductive.

One more thing–they’re boring as all get-out! Remember those grammar lessons back in middle school English class (or any other language)? Did you enjoy parsing sentences back then? I sure didn’t! It’s really not any more enjoyable just because it’s God’s Word! :yawn: