I own several different translations and actually have the NAB that I acquired some decades ago.
As a follow-up question, is the Catechism of any practical use is such groups? Just wondering.
the Ignatius Study Bible (so far, just the new testament) incorporates references to the Catechism in places, but no version of the NAB does, that I am aware of.
I’ll put in a word for private study of the Bible. In a couple groups that I was in, the pace was so fast, that I could not spend as much time as I wanted on what I was reading.
THIS (
ewtn.com/library/CURIA/PBCJWSCR.HTM) document which is technical, etc. says that there is no one theoretical best way to analyze scripture (and spends a lot of time justifying that statement) and later gets around to saying that one should study the Bible with a (Catholic) commentary nearby.
The 1992 New Jerome Biblical Commentary (which is too deep for a beginner, IMHO) says that a Bible study should be taught by someone with extensive training in Bible study.
Last summer I attended a group study on the Psalms, conducted by someone who admitted up front that she was winging it and learning as she went. She used a study guide from Ascension Press which has both a study booklet and a video that the group viewed. She had experience in managing a group study, and she used computer graphics to facilitate the study.
Back on the individual study, I have greatly benefited from the commentaries published by the Jewish Publication Society. this is not forbidden by the Church, on the contrary it is encouraged (in general, by Benedict XVI, for example) as being “first class” study material, keeping in mind the difference in our perspectives. This is expensive, to begin with, and covers verse-by-verse analysis, which hasn’t happened in any of the Catholic Bible studies I have ever been in.
If there’s a particular group study organized, you might jump into it with the idea of finding out if you like it. As somebody said above, there’s no 2 bible studies that are alike. That class last summer was WITH finger food. I was in a class that had hugging, for which I was not prepared. I was in another class that had singing. You just don’t know until you go. The Little Rock Scripture Study Bible is the latest NAB revision in disguise, with little embellishments from the LRSS team.
