{"id":12173,"date":"2024-03-01T22:37:20","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T17:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/01\/3-biggest-reasons-why-bible-reading-is-down\/"},"modified":"2024-03-01T22:37:20","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T17:07:20","slug":"3-biggest-reasons-why-bible-reading-is-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/01\/3-biggest-reasons-why-bible-reading-is-down\/","title":{"rendered":"3 biggest reasons why Bible reading is down"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Apparently, Bible reading is way down in churches, and Biblica<\/a>\u00a0has dug into finding out why.\u00a0Here\u2019s what I learned at the\"\"<\/a> conference I attended last week sponsored by Biblica (see\u00a0here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Bible reading is down because people read it<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. in fragments,<\/li>\n
  2. a-historically,<\/li>\n
  3. in isolation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In fragments,\u00a0<\/strong>meaning\u00a0in the verse level rather than in large sections. A focus on verses not only encourages prooftexting but \u00a0prevents readers from seeing the larger points of biblical works\u2013whether we are talking about a letter like Romans, or large narratives such as we find in the Old Testament.<\/p>\n

    To remedy this problem, Biblica has formatted the NIV (New International Version, 2011) without chapter and verse numbers, calling it The Books of the Bible<\/a><\/em>\"\", which is\u00a0also available in 4 separate volumes: The New Testament and the Old Testament in three volumes (Covenant History, Prophets, Writings).<\/p>\n

    A-historically<\/strong>, meaning without a feel for the historical context of the texts being read. To help remedy this, Biblica has reordered the books of the New Testament to reflect something of the historical order in which the books were written (although no order can claim certainty).<\/p>\n

    Paul\u2019s letters begin with 1 Thessalonians and end with 2 Timothy with Romans in the middle. Luke-Acts begins the NT as one work, and Matthew and Mark follow Paul\u2019s letters.<\/p>\n

    In the Old \u00a0Testament, Israel\u2019s \u201ccovenant history\u201d takes you from Genesis through 2 Kings. Chronicles is grouped with the \u201cWritings,\u201d as is Daniel, thus reflecting a bit more the traditional Jewish canonical, which I think is a huge improvement over the standard Christian order.<\/p>\n

    Many Christians might be unnerved to learn that the present ordering of the books of the Bible is relatively late and wasn\u2019t \u201cfinalized\u201d until the mass production of the 16th c. Geneva Bible made possible by the printing press. There is nothing whatsoever sacred about the order we are used to, and switching things up can actually help people connect more with the texts.<\/p>\n

    For example, reading 1 Thessalonians first\u2013where the younger Paul is more of a Jewish apocalypticist\u2013and then moving to his later writings highlights Paul\u2019s own growth as an apostle to the Gentiles.<\/p>\n

    In isolation, <\/em><\/strong>meaning individual \u201cdevotions\u201d rather than in groups. The idea here\u2013completely correct, if you ask me\u2013is that reading Scripture is mean to be a community task for mutual enlightenment and encouragement.<\/p>\n

    So, the response to the three reasons why Bible reading is down is:<\/p>\n

    Read big, read real, read together.<\/em><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


    \n
    Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Apparently, Bible reading is way down in churches, and Biblica\u00a0has dug into finding out why.\u00a0Here\u2019s what I learned at the conference I attended last week sponsored by Biblica (see\u00a0here). Bible reading is down because people read it in fragments, a-historically, in isolation. In fragments,\u00a0meaning\u00a0in the verse level rather than in large sections. A focus on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[]},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}