I’m all for more Bible reading — so if this helps that cause, I guess I’m for it. But merciful heavens, what an impoverished encounter with Scripture! This list introduces only a glimpse of the Prophets and the Writings. It provides no contact with the requirements of the Law apart from the Ten Commandments, and its representation of Pauline theology seems to regard 1 and 2 Timothy as more important than Romans, Galatians, and 1 and 2 Corinthians (and no contact with Hebrews).
Again, I don’t want to complain about stirring up Bible reading, and this list is better than total ignorance, but it’s still very far short of a healthy, well-rounded familiarity with the Bible.
Well, considering that even these basic scriptures are not known…maybe it will create a hunger to know Holy Scripture better…Biblical illiteracy is a serious problem in all the mainline protestant denominations these days.
I have done this twice and its a good place to start. Challenge the parish and use it as part of Adult Education. Then as a follow on you can go on to the other areas.
We did it in our parish and I think it was helpful. Our priests used the readings as a basis for their sermons. We have since done a more in depth study of John and are planning more studies in the fall. It is a good place to start.
We have the marvelous tradition of a lectionary amongst all the
BCP’s we have had handed down. Reading from the prayer book
lectionary holds those marvelous prayers in our hands and hearts.
It’s a good beginning. I teach in an Episcopal School which is attended by children of many different denominations, faiths, and sometimes none. The level of biblical illiteracy has shocked me. In a first grade class only one-third of them had the story of David and Goliath down well enough to be able to tell it to me. Scripture Union in GB was so alarmed about the level of biblical illiteracy there that they ran a survery and identified 10 must know bible stories.
[i]The survey, organised by Christian charity Scripture Union, asked Christians and school teachers which Bible stories needed to be passed on to future generations. The Crucifixion came top of the poll, with 94 per cent of those surveyed choosing Jesus’ death and resurrection as the most important story. Other stories which made the top ten include The Good Samaritan (75 per cent) David and Goliath (61 per cent) and Daniel in the Lions Den (48 per cent).[/i]
Here’s more about the survey and the results [url=http://www.scriptureunion.org.uk/34064.id]The Ten Must Know Bible Stories[/url]
We can’t take even the most basic level of literacy for granted.
It looks like a great starting point. I hope it’s noticed that all by themselves, like every other part of the scriptures in between they aren’t magic. Every ordinand in ECUSA for instance, receives a Bibile and some nice admonition, and affirms that they believe the scriptures to contain all things necessary to salvation. And we know that includes Spong, Schori, the Dean of EDS, etc. And each one would agree they are really great passages, tho mainly as talking points to remark on what they don’t mean. Every part of the Bible is useful only with good teaching that goes with it and faith that is from the Church’s teaching about it. Otherwise I bet Joseph Smith would endorse the List too, but we might think misunderstood every item on it.
Sounds like a great way to start becoming more familiar with the Bible. I have found using a chronological/topical (some Psalms and all of Proverbs arranged topically) Bible which is marked off in daily readings so it is completed in a year is a great help to ensure I make it through the entire Bible each year. I paricularly like the chronological arrangement. It makes the Old Testament flow much better for me, particularly Kings and Chronicles. I don’t use it for personal devotions, but it is very good for laying out God’s plan for humanity in a historical context.
I teach a group of older women, most of whom have been Episcopalians most of their lives. It astounds me–it is APPALLING!–how little they know of the Scripture. And yet there are times when one will reflect on the fact that “I’ve heard about that somewhere before!” For the most part, they recognize Scripture passages they have heard as part of the Liturgy.
What really concerns me is that they seem to have no sense of the continuity of Scripture. I think I will assign this project to them over the summer–maybe shorten it to three months so they would have some sense of the flow of the Bible.
I agree this is a great start for Bible reading. Perhaps it would prompt one person to move on to a more thorough reading on her own. But I do believe churches need to do more along the line of the Bethel Bible Series, a comprehensive study of the Old and the New Testament with an emphasis on training teachers who then teach the congregation: http://www.bethelseries.com/
#8, Agree that it is good for laying out God’s plan for humanity and more than that…it does show the sweep of salvation. I am working hard at the getting the framework/outline of salvation history into people’s heads. Once the framework is there, the details cna be filled in. This is the prob with just reading snippets on Sundays – people have a hard time connecting the dots.
drjoan, Good recommendation for The Bethel series of Adult Bible Study! I took the teacher training course 1962-64, taught the series through twice for the same group of about 30 people…second time around I did extra research so I could relate each lesson to what was happening concurrently in the rest of the “world”. The Bethel series has formed and informed my teaching ever since.
I am teaching a Bible class one hour a week to a group of people as part of a house ministry in Cripple Creek, CO. The class is a mix of old & young, churched & unchurched, knowledgeable & Biblicly illiterate, life time Christians & brand new Christians. I’ll be taking along copies of the Essential 100 for my students; I believe it will be of help to them all, but particularly to the new Christians. I also plan to provide copies to my class at St. Andrew’s, Manitou with the view of having the Vestry make it available to every member and guest.
Thanks for posting this, Kendall; what a valuable resource!
Our congregation has been in E-100 since September, and our people love it. I preach on the lesson, and our youth and kids and many of our small groups also discuss the same lesson that week. Everyone is on the same page. Dave Roseberry suggested it to me, as he did it at Christ Church, Plano. It’s been a good discipline for our congregation to stay consistently in the Old Testament and get a broad sweep of salvation history. Most of us at Church of the Holy Spirit know most of these stories, but we have not necessarily heard them taught into in a sustained way since we were children! It’s a rich menu. I do diverge back to NT for major holidays. It’s helpful for us to see Christ and The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.
Clancy Nixon, CHS Ashburn, Virginia
We did it as a congregation in several different settings and many completed it. We are considering doing the Essential Jesus this fall which is presented by the same group and includes scriptures from Old and New Testatment with Jesus as the focus.
Along with this great idea one might also mention the Cursillo. A grand thought at the time when it looked like such a movement might bring vitality to things. Yet, they do and have done these weekends in places like Newark under Spong, and in every other diocese, mostly liberal and unbelieving. It hasn’t resulted in more faithful but quite alot fewer. Anything good and useful can be reduced to a mere gimmick unless something real is there to support belief based on faith older than 30 years.
I’m all for more Bible reading — so if this helps that cause, I guess I’m for it. But merciful heavens, what an impoverished encounter with Scripture! This list introduces only a glimpse of the Prophets and the Writings. It provides no contact with the requirements of the Law apart from the Ten Commandments, and its representation of Pauline theology seems to regard 1 and 2 Timothy as more important than Romans, Galatians, and 1 and 2 Corinthians (and no contact with Hebrews).
Again, I don’t want to complain about stirring up Bible reading, and this list is better than total ignorance, but it’s still very far short of a healthy, well-rounded familiarity with the Bible.
Well, considering that even these basic scriptures are not known…maybe it will create a hunger to know Holy Scripture better…Biblical illiteracy is a serious problem in all the mainline protestant denominations these days.
I am all for it…..
I have done this twice and its a good place to start. Challenge the parish and use it as part of Adult Education. Then as a follow on you can go on to the other areas.
We did it in our parish and I think it was helpful. Our priests used the readings as a basis for their sermons. We have since done a more in depth study of John and are planning more studies in the fall. It is a good place to start.
We have the marvelous tradition of a lectionary amongst all the
BCP’s we have had handed down. Reading from the prayer book
lectionary holds those marvelous prayers in our hands and hearts.
It’s a good beginning. I teach in an Episcopal School which is attended by children of many different denominations, faiths, and sometimes none. The level of biblical illiteracy has shocked me. In a first grade class only one-third of them had the story of David and Goliath down well enough to be able to tell it to me. Scripture Union in GB was so alarmed about the level of biblical illiteracy there that they ran a survery and identified 10 must know bible stories.
[i]The survey, organised by Christian charity Scripture Union, asked Christians and school teachers which Bible stories needed to be passed on to future generations. The Crucifixion came top of the poll, with 94 per cent of those surveyed choosing Jesus’ death and resurrection as the most important story. Other stories which made the top ten include The Good Samaritan (75 per cent) David and Goliath (61 per cent) and Daniel in the Lions Den (48 per cent).[/i]
Here’s more about the survey and the results [url=http://www.scriptureunion.org.uk/34064.id]The Ten Must Know Bible Stories[/url]
We can’t take even the most basic level of literacy for granted.
It looks like a great starting point. I hope it’s noticed that all by themselves, like every other part of the scriptures in between they aren’t magic. Every ordinand in ECUSA for instance, receives a Bibile and some nice admonition, and affirms that they believe the scriptures to contain all things necessary to salvation. And we know that includes Spong, Schori, the Dean of EDS, etc. And each one would agree they are really great passages, tho mainly as talking points to remark on what they don’t mean. Every part of the Bible is useful only with good teaching that goes with it and faith that is from the Church’s teaching about it. Otherwise I bet Joseph Smith would endorse the List too, but we might think misunderstood every item on it.
Sounds like a great way to start becoming more familiar with the Bible. I have found using a chronological/topical (some Psalms and all of Proverbs arranged topically) Bible which is marked off in daily readings so it is completed in a year is a great help to ensure I make it through the entire Bible each year. I paricularly like the chronological arrangement. It makes the Old Testament flow much better for me, particularly Kings and Chronicles. I don’t use it for personal devotions, but it is very good for laying out God’s plan for humanity in a historical context.
I teach a group of older women, most of whom have been Episcopalians most of their lives. It astounds me–it is APPALLING!–how little they know of the Scripture. And yet there are times when one will reflect on the fact that “I’ve heard about that somewhere before!” For the most part, they recognize Scripture passages they have heard as part of the Liturgy.
What really concerns me is that they seem to have no sense of the continuity of Scripture. I think I will assign this project to them over the summer–maybe shorten it to three months so they would have some sense of the flow of the Bible.
I agree this is a great start for Bible reading. Perhaps it would prompt one person to move on to a more thorough reading on her own. But I do believe churches need to do more along the line of the Bethel Bible Series, a comprehensive study of the Old and the New Testament with an emphasis on training teachers who then teach the congregation: http://www.bethelseries.com/
#8, Agree that it is good for laying out God’s plan for humanity and more than that…it does show the sweep of salvation. I am working hard at the getting the framework/outline of salvation history into people’s heads. Once the framework is there, the details cna be filled in. This is the prob with just reading snippets on Sundays – people have a hard time connecting the dots.
I prefer “The Essential 2190″—three lessons a day, 365 days a year, over a two-year Daily Office lectionary cycle!
drjoan, Good recommendation for The Bethel series of Adult Bible Study! I took the teacher training course 1962-64, taught the series through twice for the same group of about 30 people…second time around I did extra research so I could relate each lesson to what was happening concurrently in the rest of the “world”. The Bethel series has formed and informed my teaching ever since.
I am teaching a Bible class one hour a week to a group of people as part of a house ministry in Cripple Creek, CO. The class is a mix of old & young, churched & unchurched, knowledgeable & Biblicly illiterate, life time Christians & brand new Christians. I’ll be taking along copies of the Essential 100 for my students; I believe it will be of help to them all, but particularly to the new Christians. I also plan to provide copies to my class at St. Andrew’s, Manitou with the view of having the Vestry make it available to every member and guest.
Thanks for posting this, Kendall; what a valuable resource!
11, that’s great but the average church goer won’t do it.
Our congregation has been in E-100 since September, and our people love it. I preach on the lesson, and our youth and kids and many of our small groups also discuss the same lesson that week. Everyone is on the same page. Dave Roseberry suggested it to me, as he did it at Christ Church, Plano. It’s been a good discipline for our congregation to stay consistently in the Old Testament and get a broad sweep of salvation history. Most of us at Church of the Holy Spirit know most of these stories, but we have not necessarily heard them taught into in a sustained way since we were children! It’s a rich menu. I do diverge back to NT for major holidays. It’s helpful for us to see Christ and The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.
Clancy Nixon, CHS Ashburn, Virginia
We did it as a congregation in several different settings and many completed it. We are considering doing the Essential Jesus this fall which is presented by the same group and includes scriptures from Old and New Testatment with Jesus as the focus.
Might I recommend the series our church (St. Peter’s Anglican) did over this last year, called “the 20 essentials”?
I don’t have a list, but the audio of the sermons can be found [url=http://www.saint-peters.net/20essentials] here on the Church website[/url].
Essential themes and scriptures are listed for each of the 20.
Peace to you!
Jim Elliott <>< Florida
Along with this great idea one might also mention the Cursillo. A grand thought at the time when it looked like such a movement might bring vitality to things. Yet, they do and have done these weekends in places like Newark under Spong, and in every other diocese, mostly liberal and unbelieving. It hasn’t resulted in more faithful but quite alot fewer. Anything good and useful can be reduced to a mere gimmick unless something real is there to support belief based on faith older than 30 years.