Little Rock Scripture Study: What's it like?

[Pat_Denzer]

JMJ For some reason I woke up this morning wondering about the Little Rock Bible Study that I had signed up to take years ago in the mid 90s at a Catholic Church in Helotes Texas. Looking back I remember I left early in the program. The first week. A friend, now deceased, and I enrolled. We had our first assignment that first week and in it the Author taught that Jesus had sinned or possibly sinned. That might have been edited out by now. But I called the Author and he expressed his excellent credentials. Having attended Vatican II in person and participated in Biblical exegesis. This gave him authority and a “license” (licentiousness Mark 7:22) to write The Little Rock Bible Study. He had acquired an Imprimatur from a Bishop up North. I told him I was going to contact him and let him know about this blasphemy. The Author begged me not to. To leave him alone, that he was old and not well. I did not call the Bishop. But I left the Bible Study. Where there is Smoke there’s Fire. Later I spent three days at The Franciscan University at Steubenville to learn to become a presenter of Dr. Scott Hahns Genesis to Jesus. Joined a team at my Parish to present it there. Beautiful. That’s the Bible Study I would recommend. Actually, anything by Dr. Scott Hahn. Viva Cristo Rey Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe

 

[psalm90]

I’ve had brief contact with the LRSS twice, and neither was very positive. The more recent contact was about 1.5 years ago and I even BOUGHT the LRSS Study bible. It contains the latest revisions of the New American Bible and I thought it was very readable.

This version of the NAB is one, almost identical to an older version of the NAB. In about a dozen instances where I checked, the old NAB translator and commentaries had been brought forward under the label of the LRSS study bible.

In the gospel of Matthew, there is an LRSS sidenote about the Jerusalem temple being a Temple that Herod built. This seems to be a gross error, in that the second Temple was built back in the days of Ezra – if I’m not mistaken. What Herod did was to enlarge the temple, but I think it’s overreaching to give him credit for building it.

In one of the introductory essays to this version of the Bible, there is a consecrated sister who is a scripture scholar, who was one of the major editors of this study Bible. She makes a remark that “Luther’s Bible” was one of the great achievements of the Reformation.

Oddly, as a Catholic, I can’t think of ANY great achievements of the Reformation. Luther’s translation was important for stabilizing and standardizing the German language, but I’d say that was not an important result of “the Reformation.” I wrote the Bishop of Little Rock and he defended the article.

I left the Bible on the lost-and-found table in church and labelled it “free Bible” for someone who is less critical than myself.

Actually I had two previous contacts with LRSS study, and I was disappointed that the course was very “canned.”

 

[po18guy]

12 year old thread! 8-10 years ago, I watched a few of the videos at a parish scripture study. The speaker was a Priest, as I recall, but I simply could not stay awake. Something about his voice lulled me to sleep. When I was awake, I did hear substantial modernist influence on the content. IMO, if there is a single factor that is plaguing the Church, it is the degree to which modernism has crept in. There are better programs out there.