Our Father's Plan or The Great Adventure Bible

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mijoy2
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Mijoy2

Guest
Moderator(s) if there is another forum that would better suit my requests here please move this thread to that forum. Thanks much.

I am looking for a bible study product that might suit my particular situation. The situation is that there are four people involved that will do this all in thier own remote setting and time.

I have two daughters, one is married and lives about an hour away. Our work schedules are such that regularily getting together for bible study is virtually impossible. The other daughter is 2000 miles away.

I have looked into The Great Adventure Bible Study (GABS) but it seems I would have to order 3 sets of materials (at very high costs) in order to have this remote study. We could do it serially but that would take way too much time. Besides the idea is that we goo through this together and share our thoughts and progress via email and occasional phone calls.

Has anybody had any experience (or have thoughts to share) on what product might suit my particular needs? Neither of my daughters are in a financial situation to be able to afford the materials of the DVD or CD sets for The Great Adventure Bible Study. If we could purchase one set of DVDs this might be doable. But because of the geographic problem this will not work.

Another, yet similiar question:
Is Our Father’s Plan (OFP) and the GABS one in the same? It seems OFP is perhapos and older precurser to GABS. Cavins and Hahn look much younger when I watch OFP on EWTN. Did one come about from the other?

Any thoughts/suggestions welcome,
Thanks
 
Mijoy2 said:
Moderator(s) if there is another forum that would better suit my requests here please move this thread to that forum. Thanks much.

I am looking for a bible study product that might suit my particular situation. The situation is that there are four people involved that will do this all in thier own remote setting and time.

I have two daughters, one is married and lives about an hour away. Our work schedules are such that regularily getting together for bible study is virtually impossible. The other daughter is 2000 miles away.

I have looked into The Great Adventure Bible Study (GABS) but it seems I would have to order 3 sets of materials (at very high costs) in order to have this remote study. We could do it serially but that would take way too much time. Besides the idea is that we goo through this together and share our thoughts and progress via email and occasional phone calls.

Has anybody had any experience (or have thoughts to share) on what product might suit my particular needs? Neither of my daughters are in a financial situation to be able to afford the materials of the DVD or CD sets for The Great Adventure Bible Study. If we could purchase one set of DVDs this might be doable. But because of the geographic problem this will not work.

Another, yet similiar question:
Is Our Father’s Plan (OFP) and the GABS one in the same? It seems OFP is perhapos and older precurser to GABS. Cavins and Hahn look much younger when I watch OFP on EWTN. Did one come about from the other?

Any thoughts/suggestions welcome,
Thanks
Click to expand...
I don’t know the answer to your questions but I have an observation. You are very blessed to have such daughters and I think I wish that you had raised my children. 🙂
 
Annie39 said:
I don’t know the answer to your questions but I have an observation. You are very blessed to have such daughters and I think I wish that you had raised my children. 🙂
Click to expand...
Thank you Annie for the kind words.😉 However this is a work in progress and this is part of that, hoped for, progress.

They express interest in wanting to better understand thier faith. This is one attempt to feed that interest.
 
I have OFP and havent finished it yet. It is very good and also has Scott Hahn in it and goes from the Old testament into the New Testament. Not sure if GA is the same. If you look around the 'net, there are some catholic sellers where I have seen OFP discounted from EWTN’s price.
 
How about watching the video’s from a PC via webex or GoToMeeting or similar? Does anyone have an account?

I just finished The Bible Timeline from Great Adventure/Jeff Cavins with a group of five other men and highly recommend it. The geographic problem is unfortunate because the video’s are fantastic. Jeff is a great theologian and explains things very well.

Between discussing the questions and watching the video, two hours per meeting is about right. You could cut that down to less than an hour for most of the videos if you do the Q&A via email or chat.

-Tim-
 
You are right that Our Father’s Plan is basically an older precursor to Great Adventure (at least, that’s how I have always viewed it). Hahn and Cavins are friends and you can see the influence of each on the other in the separate materials they have released since OFP.

The Great Adventure itself has an older precursor available from St. Joseph Communications (as opposed to the present day series published by Ascension Press). It’s the same core idea, but with some slight modifications. It’s quite a bit shorter. And it’s a bit cheaper. But it’s not as well polished.

I like the Ascension Press Great Adventure series the best, but it doesn’t seem like the best fit for what you would like to do with it. It would certainly be expensive!

You might also consider utilizing the free online Bible studies from Dr. Hahn. In particular, Genesis to Jesus does what OFP and GA both do as well: they try to give you the “Big Picture” of salvation history as recounted in Scripture. Of course, the disadvantage is that there is no video component. It’s all reading.

Fundamentally, that’s what all these Hahn and/or Cavins studies are doing. They seek to provide the average Catholic with the mental framework upon which to connect-the-dots of all the random Scripture passages we’re familiar with from going to Mass for our whole lives. They seek to get us to see the forest whereas before we only saw the trees.

I think it’s great that you’re seeking to do this with your daughters. 👍
 
Mijoy2 said:
Moderator(s) if there is another forum that would better suit my requests here please move this thread to that forum. Thanks much.

I am looking for a bible study product that might suit my particular situation. The situation is that there are four people involved that will do this all in thier own remote setting and time.

I have two daughters, one is married and lives about an hour away. Our work schedules are such that regularily getting together for bible study is virtually impossible. The other daughter is 2000 miles away.

I have looked into The Great Adventure Bible Study (GABS) but it seems I would have to order 3 sets of materials (at very high costs) in order to have this remote study. We could do it serially but that would take way too much time. Besides the idea is that we goo through this together and share our thoughts and progress via email and occasional phone calls.

Has anybody had any experience (or have thoughts to share) on what product might suit my particular needs? Neither of my daughters are in a financial situation to be able to afford the materials of the DVD or CD sets for The Great Adventure Bible Study. If we could purchase one set of DVDs this might be doable. But because of the geographic problem this will not work.

Another, yet similiar question:
Is Our Father’s Plan (OFP) and the GABS one in the same? It seems OFP is perhapos and older precurser to GABS. Cavins and Hahn look much younger when I watch OFP on EWTN. Did one come about from the other?

Any thoughts/suggestions welcome,
Thanks
Click to expand...
It just so happens that EWTN is broadcasting Great Adventure Bible Study. I just watched an episode last night. Perhaps you could synch up to the brodcast.
 
Mijoy2 said:
Any thoughts/suggestions welcome,
Thanks
Click to expand...
the first suggestion is to see if you can coordinate watching the actual programs on EWTN when they are rebroadcast. Great Adventure is going on now OFP repeats almost every year.
that being said OFP has a study guide concocted by a parish who used the videos for their own class, from Ignatius press. the DVD is pricey by my standards but my kids think it is reasonable for each family member to have their own.

GBA is more expensive for all components and includes some extras you might not use if you are not together in a class like the bracelet, bookmark etc. and the workbooks are more expensive, and designed to work with a group meeting with a trained facilitator. It might come down to who you all what to listen to.

Hahn and Cavins worked together on the “prototype” for OFP through Steubenville summer conferences, then produced the OFP EWTN series. GBA came later as Cavins branched out with this ministry, now including sessions for youth an children as well. I was privileged to enjoy those early presentations, particularly a side-splitting session when they gave a 30 minute overview of entire salvation history, barely taking a breath. GBA is too pricey for anything except parish or diocesan use IMO. You should be able to get everything you need for OFP from Ignatius for about $60 per family.
 
A member in another thread posted a link to the “our Father’s plan” series with Cavins and Hahn.

Here it is:

catholicaudio.blogspot.com/2007/08/scott-hahn-our-fathers-plan.html

Mind you, these are about one-hour in length, and I don’t know of any way to download them or to play them with the usual stop/pause/rewind features.

But, I made a point to listen to the first audio and it was very good. Cavins and Hahn are each doing their own thing in that series, so you get two-for-one general lectures on the Bible. I thought Hahn’s comments were excellent.

I want to listen to that again, taking notes, perhaps, which I didn’t do the first time. There are some things that are probably worth jotting down:

scripture references

general remarks

I’m 62 with 12 years of Catholic education, and I never heard anything like Hahn says. It catches me short, because I should have been aware of things that actually never occurred to me. In this first tape, Hahn distinguished God as Judge and God as Covenant Maker – big difference, big difference in emphasis.

I think years ago, the curriculum for priests and nuns was too rigid. Hahn has no such constraints and points out remarkable things about the Bible.

There are some tricky things Hahn says in his portion of the tape and I think you will 1) know what I mean when you listen to it, and 2) will be glad that you listened to it. Loosely, the subject is what God expects of us.

God bless.
 
I know I am answering this very late and can’t help the one who started it. I do however have a thought on the two studies program. I was asked to watch the GABT for a bible study for my church…as I was reviewing I was biting my tongue. I just could not get into it. Sorry, I know it is a good program, but way too long each session and I found a good portion of it ,please excuse me just expressing an honest truth…boring.The Program, Our Father’s Plan…although seems to run very parallel to GABT and Jeff Cavins is in it ,I believe the shorter video portions of the program divided into 24 session and the addition of Scott Hahn and his theological commentaries makes a Huge positive difference. I am now looking at both programs …yawning at one and alert and looking for more in the other.
The expense of the GABT can be costly for a poor parish. The videos are 400 dollars and the individual books fairly expensive…whereas OFP is like 30-40 dollars, easily available,and adapter for a bible study. I know I will most likely use both somewhere down the line…but an honest preference is Our Father’s Plan
 
BklynTony said:
I know I am answering this very late and can’t help the one who started it. I do however have a thought on the two studies program. I was asked to watch the GABT for a bible study for my church…as I was reviewing I was biting my tongue. I just could not get into it. Sorry, I know it is a good program, but way too long each session and I found a good portion of it ,please excuse me just expressing an honest truth…boring.The Program, Our Father’s Plan…although seems to run very parallel to GABT and Jeff Cavins is in it ,I believe the shorter video portions of the program divided into 24 session and the addition of Scott Hahn and his theological commentaries makes a Huge positive difference. I am now looking at both programs …yawning at one and alert and looking for more in the other.
The expense of the GABT can be costly for a poor parish. The videos are 400 dollars and the individual books fairly expensive…whereas OFP is like 30-40 dollars, easily available,and adapter for a bible study. I know I will most likely use both somewhere down the line…but an honest preference is Our Father’s Plan
Click to expand...
Hey, to each his own. I think both Cavins and Hahn would give anyone a big thumbs up just for making the effort to get better acquainted with Scripture, regardless of which “program” they use toward that end. 👍

GABT does now have a Quick Journey Through the Bible which is shorter and cheaper than the original series. It’s still more expensive than “Our Father’s Plan”, though.
 
Hi Joe,
Thank you for a response. I was truly interested in others opinion. I have seen elsewhere that my thoughts are in the minority and I pleased so many see it differently than myself. What I like to know is your thoughts on the GABT program. What makes it a great program for you.
Thanks
Tony
 
BklynTony said:
Hi Joe,
Thank you for a response. I was truly interested in others opinion. I have seen elsewhere that my thoughts are in the minority and I pleased so many see it differently than myself. What I like to know is your thoughts on the GABT program. What makes it a great program for you.
Thanks
Tony
Click to expand...
I like that it is long (which means it can go into greater detail) and I think the accompanying study materials are very well polished. I keep my “Bible Timeline Chart” always near. 🙂 It is a great visual aid for the story of the Bible.

I can see how someone would find it a bit boring at times, though. It is pretty much just Jeff Cavins standing up there talking the whole time. That doesn’t bother me, though.

GABT was one of the first (if not the first) video programs that Ascension Press put together. I think their production values have improved a lot over the years. I know they redid GABT once and came out with a “2.0” version (which I’m not as familiar with). Maybe they’ll do a “3.0” someday that will be more attention-grabbing.
 
Thank you again for your reply. I am glad you mentioned the 2.0 version. I have it and I will tell you it is superior to the first version. Just about 50 % of the material was reworked and reworded. It of course still uses the videos but the study guide is better. Again, thank you for you (name removed by moderator)ut and I do believe Jeff Cavins is truly a gifted speaker and has much to offer.
As a side note, have you the opportunity to see Father Barron’s Catholicism series ? If you like J. Cavins, I think you will enjoy this series too.
Be with God
Tony
 
BklynTony said:
Thank you again for your reply. I am glad you mentioned the 2.0 version. I have it and I will tell you it is superior to the first version. Just about 50 % of the material was reworked and reworded. It of course still uses the videos but the study guide is better. Again, thank you for you (name removed by moderator)ut and I do believe Jeff Cavins is truly a gifted speaker and has much to offer.
As a side note, have you the opportunity to see Father Barron’s Catholicism series ? If you like J. Cavins, I think you will enjoy this series too.
Be with God
Tony
Click to expand...
I’ve seen bits and pieces of the Catholicism series, but not the whole thing. I keep meaning to do that. It looks very well done. I’ve seen plenty of other things from Fr. Barron. I like him a lot.
 
Fast response…I was working online and saw your email…
Just wanted to add to your comment about Father Barron…I just completed a 7 week session on his Conversion series…I like to say it was pretty amazing…The people loved it and , if anything each session could have and should have gone on even longer…maybe each session (1 1/2 hrs) could have gone into 2 sessions. The people really got into the questions and reflections. Anyway…thanks again
Tony
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top