Reflections
How to go about reading the Bible Readings Between the Lines Father Glenn LeCompte
“I’d like to read and pray with the Bible, but don’t know where or how to start.” “I often don’t understand what I read.” “I read the Bible, but interpret what it means to me.” Perhaps you have made the foregoing statements. Last month I wrote about Pope Francis’ declaration of the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time as the “Sunday of the Word.” As a follow-up to that article I intend to offer you some suggestions to help understand the Bible better and to read it authentically. Even if you have read parts of the Bible and had trouble deciphering what it says, there is probably an equal number of parts of it you have read that are very understandable. So do not be afraid to dive into it. First, let’s consider what is in the Bible. Genesis chapters 1-11 contain stories of creation, the first man and woman and their descendants, Noah and the great flood and the Tower of Babel story. Each of these stories is not intended to be read historically or scientifically, but as narratives which exemplify basic truths about life and our relationship to God and the world. Genesis 12-50 tells the story of Abraham and his descendants. Exodus 1-19 narrates the Hebrews’ deliverance from Egypt and their journey to Mt. Sinai. Exodus 20—Numbers 10 contains a variety of legal codes which help define the covenant relationship between God and his people. Numbers 11-36 recounts the Hebrews’ journey from Mt. Sinai to the Promised Land, a journey fraught with tension between the people and God, and adds some more legislation. Deuteronomy is in the form of three speeches by Moses, given just before the
Chosen People’s entry into the Promised Land, and exhorting them to choose life by obeying the commandments or death by not doing so. The books of Joshua-Judges narrate the emergence of Israel as a people in Canaan and the monarchy’s history. In the course of telling the stories, the sacred authors evaluate the nation’s leaders using the laws in Deuteronomy as a standard. Not many fare well! The corpus of books named for prophets is called the “Latter Prophets.” These prophets, whose ministry stretches roughly from the 8th to the 4th Centuries B.C., in sum, challenge the people in their sinfulness, and also encourage them in times of trial or distress. The “Wisdom Literature” (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Sirach, Song of Songs and Wisdom) basically deal with searching for meaning in life, mastering life and contemplating how to cope with the major challenges of life, such as illness, suffering, injustice, etc. In the New Testament are four Gospels, whose primary concern is to tell us who Jesus is and to convey his teaching in a way that is relevant to the communities for which they wrote. In the New Testament letters, the authors seek to deal with unique issues of faith for the communities to which they wrote. Romans is actually an exposition of Paul’s version of the
16 • Bayou Catholic • Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux • February 2021
Gospel; he writes the letter to gain support from the Roman Christians as he makes his way toward the west. Finally, the Book of Revelation is a work of apocalyptic literature, which means to communicate that in the struggle between God and the forces of evil, a struggle which manifests itself in the world, God will emerge victorious. Now that we have a general outline of the contents of the Bible, where should you start? Ultimately that will be up to you, but it might be good to begin with the literature with which you are most familiar, which is probably the Gospels. I strongly recommend that you obtain certain resources before you begin your spiritual reading of the Scriptures. First, make sure you have the most up-to-date edition of the New American Bible: Catholic Study Bible (hereafter NABCSB). Since 1970, the New American Bible (produced for the Catholic Church) has gone through several revisions. The advantage of the NABCSB is that it provides reading guides for each of the biblical books and detailed footnotes that explain difficult passages or simply provide a necessary background for reading a passage. Along with the version of the Bible just mentioned, it would be wise to have a commentary, which gives you a passage-by-passage explanation of the Scriptures. I recommend the New Collegeville Bible Commentary,
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