Read the Bible 101

The Lead by Ann Fontaine 

 

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Kelvin Holdsworth, provost of St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow offers ideas for getting started reading the Bible.

Reading the Bible isn’t optional for Christians – it is part of what makes us who we are. However, there’s no doubt that some people find it daunting and don’t know where to start.Personally, I wouldn’t recommend starting at the beginning and working through to the end. It starts OK with some interesting and apparently familiar stories about creation and a load of stories about Abraham but soon veers off into purity codes and punishments and what can seem like interminable records of who gave birth to whom.
Better to begin somewhere else.
Holdsworth recommends:

I’d suggest starting with one of the gospel books – that means one of the following books – Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. (By the way, I recommend the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Get one of the ones with the Apocrypha...).
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After reading one of the gospels, I’d suggest that someone heads over into the Psalms and starts to dip in and out. All human life is there. These are spiritual songs which form a collection of spiritual writing which goes from anger to joy, from despair to compassion.
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Maybe now it is time for Genesis and a bit of Job ...
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A bit of prophecy now – Isaiah but start in the middle ...
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Read some tricky stuff ...But don’t miss the best bits of PaulOh heavens, right in the middle of all that stuff about women you get one of the best bits of St Paul’s writings – 1 Corinthians 13. It is such a fabulous celebration of love that it still gets read frequently (and often very badly) at weddings.
Love is patient and love is kind, but if you want something a bit erotic you need to dip back into the Hebrew scriptures and read the sexy Song of Songs
Read all his suggestions here. What is your Bible reading plan - or do you read it at all? Why or why not?

"Bishops Bible Elizabeth I 1569" by Unknown - Scanned from Susan Doran, editor. Elizabeth:The Exhibition at the National Maritime Museum. 2003, London, Chatto & Windus/National Maritime Museum, ISBN 0701174765 (Doran 2003a). Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.