Discipulus Scripturae

Today in Sunday school we had our first discussion based on everyone reading the same NIV Daily Bible. Probably my favorite thing was that we could simply say what page we were referring to and everyone could easily flip to the passage in question. Overall, there were lots of questions asked and great discussion all around. This is the type of thing I have been longing for these past few years and it was easily my favorite Sunday school lesson ever. Most of the discussion ranged over topics in Genesis from the creation narrative, to Abraham, as well as Noah. Good stuff really.

As for how things are working out during the week, my wife and I read all of the content on a regular basis. Also, despite our hectic week, we were able to make time and sit down and discuss what we had read separately. We have done this in the past but had gotten away from the habit. Also, I have some ideas about reading from this specific NIV Daily Bible and highlighting in it, and then doing some comparisons with other translation and commentaries later on. Still sorting out how this will work in practice, but I will probably try a variety of study techniques. I’ve got one other Bible related thing, but I think I’ll make a dedicated post for it.

I rarely mark in books, and if I do it is usually in pencil so that I can erase it. Our Sunday school class passed out a cheap yearly NIV Daily Bible for us to read this year. I’ve decided to start highlighting in it and the margins look wide enough to make small notes. The fact that this is a paperback, disposable Bible has helped me clear the mental hurdle in order to be willing to write in it. Basically I am approaching this as a workbook, with my regular Bibles still holding their normal place. Some of you may laugh but this is a very difficult thing for me to do, because the highlighter can never be removed and is permanent! The only major drawback I see so far is that the pages are so thin that the highlighter warps the paper a bit. I have tried to press down very lightly and it seems to help.

One of my strategies for Bible study in this fashion is to highlight points of interest in the text. I plan on taking an hour or two on Saturdays to reference highlighted portions in my commentaries in preparation for discussion on Sunday morning. I’m not sure how this plan will work out but it seems like a good starting point. I am very excited that all of our dozens of Sunday school members have one of these Bibles now. In a conversation last year it was quickly realized that only a small percentage of the class had ever read a significant portion of the Bible, much less all of it. I believe that biblical illiteracy is one of the major plagues of the modern church and I can’t relate how excited I am at the prospect of rectifying this situation in my own faith community. I’ll post updates on this method of Bible study as the year progresses.