Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Martin Kelley on 1st mo. 15, 2009 at 7:20pm

I'll start. I'm Martin Kelley, QuakerQuaker publisher and the blogger behind Quaker Ranter. I read Gregg K's New Years Day post about the One Year Bible and followed the links on a whim. I grew up without much formal religion and fell in with Philadelphia area Friends around age twenty, attracted outwardly by their peace testimony but from the start I knew there was something more going on that just politics.

A lot of Friends in these parts sidestep controversy by talking about Quakerism as if it is its own religion but as I got deeper I started reading older Quaker books and journals and couldn't help noticing all the Biblical references. Some of these books have modern-day editors that gave the Bible references that the author's audience probably didn't need and I started cross-referencing. It didn't take long before I realize the Bible was just a obligatory reference source but a real story that they knew and lived.

That said, I've never been good about having a regular Bible reading practice. But I'm halfway through the month of January and still following the One Year Bible plan so it seems like this is a good way for me to be regular. Having more Friends to talk about it all will help, which is why I started this discussion.

So who else is doing this or is willing to start?

Permalink Reply by David Carl on 1st mo. 15, 2009 at 10:27pm

I just need some method in my apophatic madness. I'm reading the "One Year Bible", NIV. This is my second time reading through the Bible, using a plan off the internet the first time. I like that I can just turn to "today's date" and not have to go flipping around.

The first time through I had sort of a "getting it under my belt" attitude - "git'r'done" as the bumper stickers say down south. I'm trying to be more reflective and worshipful this time through, but stil need to work on that. I'm part of a small worship group (my wife and one other Friend) who are doing this. Might be nice to be part of a group online as well.

David Carl

Permalink Reply by Martin Kelley on 1st mo. 16, 2009 at 12:57pm

Sure, comments on a generic Christian blog are not going to jive with any Quaker reading and are likely to get overheated almost instantly. This is the internet after all! I haven't even bothered reading the comments, sticking instead to Mike's One Year Bible Blog posts. He's stated that he's a literalist but he has a friendly manner, isn't pushy and is willing to share different interpretations. I think it's useful to know how different denominational temperaments see this material. He's pointed out stuff that I would have missed. But there's no reason you need to read his blog to follow along this conversation on QuakerQuaker. He didn't create the reading list. There are books and audio podcasts and other blogs. If someone wanted to post daily here on QuakerQuaker that would be a neat ministry (I'd be happy to help someone think through how to do that!).

Permalink Reply by Thomas Taylor on 1st mo. 16, 2009 at 1:01pm

This seems like something I'd like to start - achievable, I'm not too far behind yet, etc. Probably need to get a hard copy today - I don't think I could do this online exclusively, though I'm adding the recc'ed feeds to my reader.

I'm curious about translations - Martin, your blog post refered to the NLT, and David says he's using the NIV. The NIV is the translation in the partially read/referred to gift I received from my First Day School at the end of fifth grade. Anything in particular to recommend the NLT, Martin? I suspect my choices will be limited by what I can find today in a brick-and-mortar store, as I feel pretty strongly that I'd need to "catch up" by the end of the weekend for this to be a successful enterprise.

Permalink Reply by Martin Kelley on 1st mo. 16, 2009 at 1:08pm

@Thomas:My favorite answer to "which Bible should I use" is "whichever one you'll actually read." The only printed One Year Bibles I saw were in accessible modern translations. Let us know if you find more choices in the bookstores. If I have the time I usually like to reread the day's passage in some other translation, both for reinforcement and to see if another message opens up.

Thomas Taylor said:

I'm curious about translations - Martin, your blog post refered to the NLT, and David says he's using the NIV..

Permalink Reply by Thomas Taylor on 1st mo. 16, 2009 at 7:14pm

Martin Kelley said:

@Thomas:My favorite answer to "which Bible should I use" is "whichever one you'll actually read." The only printed One Year Bibles I saw were in accessible modern translations. Let us know if you find more choices in the bookstores. If I have the time I usually like to reread the day's passage in some other translation, both for reinforcement and to see if another message opens up.

I just picked up a compact NLT One Year Bible at the neighborhood Christian bookstore. They had an NIV, but since that's what I already have, that seemed less useful. Since the train is the likeliest place for me to read, size was important. I'm looking forward to joining theis journey with you, though all I want to think about committing to initially is the reading, though I hope to read here and the blog as time allows. But if I make it into too big a project from the outset, it will probably fall apart.

Thanks for blogging about this, Martin! I'm looking forward to it. My Biblical literacy is limited, and this systematic way of approaching the Bible seems very helpful to me.

-thomas

Permalink Reply by Jenelle D'Alessandro on 1st mo. 21, 2009 at 1:31am

I'm a theology student at Fuller Seminary and found this group via C. Wess Daniels. I've studied the Bible for years, but never read through it in a year. That seems sad to me. Last year I tried and utterly failed. Second times a charmer?

Since my last year or so on campus I've become sure that God has a conspiracy to turn me into a Mennonite, so I figure a Quaker group would be good bunch to learn from. I guess you could say I have Pentecostal roots with lots of different traditions flavoring my little journey.

I'm using the NRSV, TNIV, and NKJV. 20 days to catch up on. Let's go team.

Permalink Reply by C. Wess Daniels on 1st mo. 21, 2009 at 10:22am

Hi all, Wess Daniels here. I too am a Fuller Theological Seminary student and have been a theology student since my first day in undergrad at the Evangelical Friends Malone College (now University). Sadly, the more time I spend studying theology, the harder it is for me to read Scripture regularly. I get a lot of Scripture through my theological reading, and have read the Bible back and front and am very well acquainted with it, yet now when I crack open my NRSV it often feels more like doing homework than reading the sacred texts of our faith. This is a confession of my own struggle to be renewed in my love for the stories in the bible. I think the other part of this for me is that I am not involved in ministry at any level, most days you'll find me holed up in a corner of the library with my nose in a book or my computer. I find that reading the bible while in the midst of doing God's work always adds an entirely new and lively dimension to our reading. When Martin said he was doing this group, it seemed like a good fit for something I want and need right now.

Permalink Reply by Martin Kelley on 1st mo. 21, 2009 at 11:05am

Glad to see you here Jenelle! So, we have a challenge to wrest you from the Mennonites, hmm? For whate

ver it's worth, I'd say that if catching up makes it harder, just skip it and start at today's reading. The first few weeks of the One Year Bible are mostly Genesis and Matthew and include stuff that even an un-churched liberal Quaker like me has read :) . I started on January 1st but the important part is really just establishing the practice and making it a life habit. These readings all start again next New Year's Day so you can always just finish your OYB routine 365 days from now and have the "read all the way through" bragging rights.

Permalink Reply by C. Wess Daniels on 1st mo. 21, 2009 at 11:34am

Yes, FWIW I just started with the day I was on and decided against trying to catch up.

Permalink Reply by Patrick Ruth on 1st mo. 21, 2009 at 10:37pm

Hi Friends I saw that Martin Kelly was getting this thing going on his blog. I've more or less have done a thru the bible every year and thought it would be nice to share the discipline with a group of F/friends this time. I'm a member of a small,active meeting in central coastal California. I have an enormous interest in Friends history,Conservative and Convergent Friends, and the Bible (OK I'm nerdy and scholarly-inclined). I have to admit a lot of what Wess said speaks to my condition( without being at seminary). Patrick Ruth

Permalink Reply by JJ on 1st mo. 28, 2009 at 8:30pm

Hi! I just joined Quaker Quaker, and I'd like the challenge of reading the Bible regularly, too. I just wrote a long blog entry introducing myself, so I won't go through all that again, but basically, I have a strong background as a Methodist Sunday school and Bible study teacher, but it's been a while since I just read the Bible. The Methodist church I attend was fairly liberal until the last few years, when some changes in leadership guided the congregation to a much more literal, fundamentalist interpretation of not just the Bible, but everything...and I just don't read the Bible as literally true, despite what my friends at church insist.

So I'm looking forward to lively and thought-provoking discussion! I'm going to start with the current reading, so I'll post soon!