understanding the bible

[traillius]

So, I want to really understand the bible. comparing scripture to itself doesn’t work. Simply reading the bible without some connection isn’t enough for me. Do any of you have any suggestions. I am not content with simply reading and quoting the bible. I don’t have time or money to go to classes, but I do want to know what the bible really means, both the old and new testaments. Is there a companion book I can find. I am catholic, and intend to remain that way, so anything not allowing for the context of the Tradition won’t work for me.

 

[Richard320]

What you want is a Bible Commentary. It will give background information, so you can get the point of a passage. If you read about Corinth in the Bible, you think, “It’s just a town.” Well, no, it was a wild place…it would make modern-day San Francisco look tame. Knowing that fact helps you make sense of what you read. A Commentary will explain the customs of the time, and give information about the locale, and so on. There are many commentaries. Not all are Catholic; most aren’t in fact.

Some opinions:
The New Jerome Bible Commentary, while Catholic, is extremely scholarly, and extremely dry reading. Plus it’s super expensive.

The Collegeville Commentary is nominally Catholic. It seems to be written about 8th grade level. Better than nothing.

I’ve heard good things about the Haydock Commentary, never seen one. Same thing for The Navarre Bible.

Isaac Azimov wrote one from a purely factual point of view. Interesting, but not Catholic. He gets the background info right, but hasn’t got much on the way of tying it to Church teachings.

My personal favorite (and also used by Abp. Fulton Sheen) are the Barclay Bible Commentaries. Problem is, William Barclay was Anglican. Still, he’s right on the money with the facts, and over 90%, I’d say, in agreement with the Catholic Church.

 

[patg]

One of the textbooks for many Catholic adult scripture education classes is And God Said What? by Margaret Ralph (Paulist Press). This is an inexpensive paperback available from Amazon (there are used ones there for around $5)

 

[TimothyH]

The Bible Timeline by Jeff Cavins.

-Tim-

 

[thistle]

What you want is a Bible Commentary. It will give background information, so you can get the point of a passage. If you read about Corinth in the Bible, you think, “It’s just a town.” Well, no, it was a wild place…it would make modern-day San Francisco look tame. Knowing that fact helps you make sense of what you read. A Commentary will explain the customs of the time, and give information about the locale, and so on. There are many commentaries. Not all are Catholic; most aren’t in fact.

Some opinions:
The New Jerome Bible Commentary, while Catholic, is extremely scholarly, and extremely dry reading. Plus it’s super expensive.

The Collegeville Commentary is nominally Catholic. It seems to be written about 8th grade level. Better than nothing.

I’ve heard good things about the Haydock Commentary, never seen one. Same thing for The Navarre Bible.

Isaac Azimov wrote one from a purely factual point of view. Interesting, but not Catholic. He gets the background info right, but hasn’t got much on the way of tying it to Church teachings.

My personal favorite (and also used by Abp. Fulton Sheen) are the Barclay Bible Commentaries. Problem is, William Barclay was Anglican. Still, he’s right on the money with the facts, and over 90%, I’d say, in agreement with the Catholic Church.

haydock1859.tripod.com/

 

[Pete_Holter]

So, I want to really understand the bible. comparing scripture to itself doesn’t work. Simply reading the bible without some connection isn’t enough for me. Do any of you have any suggestions. I am not content with simply reading and quoting the bible. I don’t have time or money to go to classes, but I do want to know what the bible really means, both the old and new testaments. Is there a companion book I can find. I am catholic, and intend to remain that way, so anything not allowing for the context of the Tradition won’t work for me.

If you’d like to start with an introduction, you might try Inside the Bible. Here’s the EWTN Bookmark episode for it: with Fr. Kenneth Baker, 8/17/08EWTN Bookmark.

Have a blessed day!

In Christ,
Pete

 

[Pete_Holter]

So, I want to really understand the bible. comparing scripture to itself doesn’t work. Simply reading the bible without some connection isn’t enough for me. Do any of you have any suggestions. I am not content with simply reading and quoting the bible. I don’t have time or money to go to classes, but I do want to know what the bible really means, both the old and new testaments. Is there a companion book I can find. I am catholic, and intend to remain that way, so anything not allowing for the context of the Tradition won’t work for me.

If you’d like to start with a basic introduction, you might try Inside the Bible. Here’s the EWTN Bookmark episode for it: with Fr. Kenneth Baker, 8/17/08EWTN Bookmark. The episodes get pushed along rather quickly, so you may have to click to an older page of links to find the show by the time you read this. Use the Date Produced and Series Name to help you find it. I haven’t read this book, but it sounds like what you might be looking for.

Have a blessed day!

In Christ,
Pete

 

[Jeremiah1278]

Pope Benedict’s 2 volumes titled “Jesus of Nazareth” are incredible. While it’s not a Bible study, it’s a great place to start if you want to see our theology, our Christology in context of the entire Bible. How everything fits together. Christ’s connection to Moses, how he fulfilled the scriptures. The various motifs of the Bible are explained like Bread and Lamb, etc.

Having Pope Benedict’s teachings in the back of my head as you tackle more tedius or difficult to understand things is helpful for me.

 

[puzzleannie]

. I don’t have time or money to go to classes,e.

you have the time, as we all do, to spend time on CAF so you have time for on-line bible study, catholicanswers.com is one site with good ones.

you can also find links to Catholic commentaries on line so you do not have to spend money. don’t waste time with non-Catholic sources, they will leave you worse off than you are now

 

[Langdell]

When I first started to read the Bible seriously, one book I found extremely helpful was The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary: amazon.com/HarperCollins-Bible-Dictionary-Revised-Updated/dp/0061469068/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328116368&sr=1-1#_

Although it’s written by scholars from a variety of Christian denominations (including RC), it’s not a strictly Catholic source. However, the vast majority of entries are on historical rather than theological topics, so I haven’t found the book’s ecumenism troublesome.

What’s especially useful are the entries on the specific books of the Bible. Each book has a detailed entry that provides an outline of the book’s contents and an explanation of when and under what circumstances it was probably written. That’s very helpful when trying to put the different parts of the Bible (especially the OT books) in context.

 

[Fidelis]

If I may, I’d like to direct you to my humble website, linked below. There you’ll find some basic resources and tips to help you get started reading the Bible with a good solid Catholic basis.