Studying Genesis - Resources

Now that I've begun my chronological Bible reading, it reminded me of this Genesis Bible study from 2004. This isn't a complete "study" but simply sharing some of the things that brought Genesis alive for me.

Gustave Doré, The Creation of Light

So many things have changed since 2004. For one thing, I read Robert Alter's translation on my Forgotten Classics podcast. I'd fallen in love with his authentic, vivid rendering and reading it aloud turned Genesis into my favorite Old Testament book.

I've also come across some other good references in the last 12 years, some new and some old. I've got asterisks by the references that are new since then.I'm going to refresh and republish the study as I work my way through Genesis again.

*Genesis: Translation and Commentary by Robert Alter. I read this a bit every day and was blown away by Alter's translation and notes. Reading both for morning reflection and prayer AND as prep for eventually reading Genesis on my podcast, with commentary from various sources, one of which will be this book. No translation and commentary I have read has so vividly brought alive this scripture. The commentary is cultural and literary rather than religious, just fyi, but that simply enhances it for the reader who already has a religious grounding. The introductory article about scripture from a literary standpoint as well as how modern translation tends to explain rather than accurately translate is almost worth the price of admission alone.

Genesis, Part I: God and His Creation and Genesis, Part II: God and His Family.  I originally read this online and it is no longer available free or to individuals, so we're lucky that it has been published. This is the first study I ever read which really made Genesis seem personal instead of a lot of old religious myths. It offers spiritual insights to specific sections being studied, connection with the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and revealing connections with the deeper layers of mean in Scripture throughout the Bible such as typology.

*The Navarre Bible: Pentateuch. The Navarre commentaries are consistently excellent and have a lot of thoughts from Church Fathers, Popes, saints, and the Catechism. They add wisdom from the 2,000 years of Church contemplation on scripture since Jesus.

*St. Irenaeus Ministries Genesis Study - Scripture study that is practical and I've listened to this for years. The teacher is extremely insightful in giving connections between scripture and daily life. He keeps it real and although he has an orthodox Catholic point of view, this is the podcast I recommend to non-Catholics. You'll find his Genesis study on iTunes or in the archive (linked above) in the 2013 listings.

Life Application Study Bible: New International Version. This Protestant Bible is an interesting resource. The footnotes are fresh, interesting, and a good resource for historical questions such as how threshing was done when Ruth met Boaz for example. They also have maps and occasional one page essays about main figures of the Bible. There is a tendency to ask questions at the end of commentary such as, "Do you listen to God like this person, etc.?" which I find rather annoying but they may not strike everyone that way. I would advise the NIV version as I have been told that translation is more accurate than the New Living Translation.

*Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Manners and Customs: How the People of the Bible Really Lived. This puts different Biblical epochs into context by looking at everything from what people wore and ate to how they traveled, fought, and dressed. It really puts everything into context for the modern person. I've never forgotten reading about Ur where Abram lived (before he set out for parts unknown at God's behest and became Abraham) and how everyone lived. It really set my imagination alight. Suddenly those Old Testament figures are all quite a bit more human and three-dimensional.

The Complete Bible Handbook: An Illustrated Companion by John Bowker. This is a DK book which means first and foremost that it is beautifully illustrated. Luckily, it also is very approachable, scholarly, and reverent in covering the history and cultural context of the Bible. Each book of the Bible is covered by five types of double-page spreads: "Book" (origin, significance and key themes), "Story" (significance of specific passages, characters, and events), "Background" and "History" (cultural contexts, historical facts), and "Theology" (interpretation, theory).

*Archaeological Study Bible (which has an adamant "WOOHOO Protestant Biblical books choice, BOO Catholic books choice!" section of the introduction). Their practically pure archaeological take on things is eye opening. One must just keep in mind that they may fall short when it comes to Catholic teachings if they happen to comment on those things (which I haven't seen happen yet other than in their stern comments about which books should be in the Bible).

*Ignatius Genesis Study Bible. I like the commentary and essays but find the large format to be clunky and hard to handle, so much so that I actively avoid using it.  Be that as it may, the commentary is excellent and that is what counts.

For all the Genesis lessons, go to the Genesis study page.

Worth A Thousand Words: Singing

Singing
taken by Remo Savisaar

Well Said: Rewriting History

It has been said that each generation must rewrite history in order to understand it. The opposite is true. Moderns rewrite history to make it palatable, not to understand it. Those who edit "history" to popular taste each decade will never understand the past — neither the horrors nor glories of which the human race is equally capable — and for that reason, they will fail to understand themselves.

T.R. Fehrenbach, Lone Star

Worth a Thousand Words: Bluebonnets in the Sunset

Bluebonnets in the Sunset, San Sabe County, Texas
taken by Jason Merlo, Jason Merlo Photography

Jason's words are as evocative as his photography:

There's nothing like ending the day in silence surrounded by the fragrance of bluebonnets as the warm sunset light slowly fades away.

Worth a Thousand Words: Loners

Loners
by Karin Jurick

Well Said: In His Great Love, God Challenges All of Us

Maybe some of you will say to me, Saint Paul is often severe in his writings. How can I say he was spreading a message of love? My answer is this. God loves every one of us with a depth and intensity that we can hardly begin to imagine. And he knows us intimately, he knows all our strengths and our faults. Because he loves us so much, he wants to purify us of our faults and build up our virtues so that we can have life in abundance. When he challenges us because something in our lives is displeasing to him, he is not rejecting us, but he is asking us to change and become more perfect. That is what he asked of St. Paul on the road to Damascus. God rejects no one. And the Church rejects no one. Yet in his great love, God challenges all of us to change and become more perfect.

Pope Benedict XVI

Worth a Thousand Words: New Life

New Life
by Edward B. Gordon

Well Said: True Community is a Fellowship of the Weak

When we dismiss people out of hand because of their apparent woundedness, we stunt their lives by ignoring their gifts, which are often buried in their wounds.

We all are bruised reeds, whether our bruises are visible or not. The compassionate life is the life in which we believe that strength is hidden in weakness and that true community is a fellowship of the weak.

Henri Nouwen

Ain't that the truth!

Must See TV: Papal Pilgrimage in the Holy Land

My friend Diana von Glahn, The Faithful Traveler, needs no introduction to the many who have enjoyed her DVDs and series: The Faithful Traveler in the Holy Land. For those who haven't seen her videos on U.S. shrines or the Holy Land, you're missing a real treat. Diana is personable, joyful, and devout (without being corny ... ok, sometimes she's corny but it works!). You get a full dose of the faith in the actual place it happened plus a way to relate to it wherever you are.

(Some day I am going to get to meet her in person and that is going to be a very joyful day. We almost got to go the Holy Land together and I rue the day I discovered that little dream was not going to happen. However, I have talked to her on the phone and she is just as genuine in person as on TV.)

Now we've got a real treat in store during May. The Faithful Traveler looks at Papal Pilgrimage in the Holy Land, in a 3-part series.

This 3-episode special explores the important history behind Papal pilgrimages to the Holy Land, including the background behind Pope Paul VI’s meeting with Patriarch Athenagoras in 1964, and the significance of the meeting of Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew in 2014.

It will show on CatholicTV, EWTN, Salt + Light, and a few other networks. Check the schedule here.

Worth a Thousand Words: Spin

Spin
by Belinda DelPesco

Well Said: After reading a new book ...

It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones. Every age has its own outlook. It is especially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books ... Not, of course, that there is any magic about the past. People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes. They will not flatter us in the errors we are already committing; and their own errors, being now open and palpable, will not endanger us.

C.S. Lewis, “On the reading of old books,” God in the Dock
via Semicolon

Reading the Bible in Chronological Order

How sweet are your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Psalm 119:103

I've come across several people lately who have been doing one of those "read the Bible in a year" plans. I'm intrigued by a plan to read the entire Bible, though having a time limit leaves me cold. Why rush, after all? Also, what with one thing and another, I've read practically the entire Bible in fits and starts over the years, with the notable exception of Isaiah.

However, what I did begin thinking about was the idea of reading the Bible chronologically. I'd like to read salvation history as it unrolls through time — not in the order it was written, but in the order it happened. And it would definitely be interesting to read Isaiah, Jeremiah and the other prophets within the historical timeline.

There are a variety of plans out there, but the one that fit the bill for me was from the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. You may recall I love their commentaries and when I saw how their plan interspersed parts of Isaiah throughout the historical books, I could see we were on the same page.

They have a 3-column, 365-day Bible reading plan formatted in legal and letter sized pdfs. Perfect! Here's a bit of their thinking, but they lay out all their rationale at the reading plan link.

For the most part, the Old Testament narrative and prophecy readings present the biblical books in the order of the story they tell (not the same as the order in which they were written). This chronological order is particularly helpful in understanding where the prophets and various narrative works fit in the history of Israel. A significant exception to this chronological presentation is the placement of 1-2 Chronicles (which cover the same period as the books of Samuel and Kings) near to when they were written near the end of the OT period, in order to lessen the experience of repetition.

A similar approach is taken to the third column that contains the books of the NT. These readings begin with the Gospel of Luke and Acts to provide a narrative framework for the whole. The other three Gospels are interspersed among the remaining New Testament books to allow readers to return to reflect on the life of Christ throughout the year. Then come the letters of Paul arranged in approximate chronological order, Hebrews, the epistles of James, Peter, John, and Jude, concluding with the book of Revelation.

I'm going to read from beginning to end, as I said, placing the gospels in their chronological order for when they were written. (Hey it wouldn't be me if I didn't inject my own thinking, would it?)

I'm interested to read the New Testament, when I get to it, in the order that the first Christians did, as letters circulating through churches with gospels popping up later on. Anyway, I have the Church's daily Mass readings for a daily dose of gospel.

So I've begun with Genesis and the Psalms. A couple of chapters of Genesis start my day, while I'm feeding the dogs, and a psalm is the midday punctuation.

I like the idea of the wisdom books accompanying the historical books. In my particular case, Genesis is one of my all-time favorite books and I've always struggled with the Psalms, though wanting to read them has been a goal for a long time. So this is the perfect pairing to begin.

If the moon were replaced with some of our planets ...

Here's the thing I never thought about — rotation. How many science fiction movie directors have missed a big visual by having interesting moons hang in alien skies, but not having them rotate?

(via Cat Hodge's Facebook page)

Worth a Thousand Words: View from a Window

Arts Everyday Living

Poetry: Old Books

OLD BOOKS

by Margaret Widdemer

(via Semicolon)

The people up and down the world that talk and laugh and cry,
They’re pleasant when you’re young and gay, and life is all to try,
But when your heart is tired and dumb, your soul has need of ease,
There’s none like the quiet folk who wait in libraries–
The counselors who never change, the friends who never go,
The old books, the dear books that understand and know!

‘Why, this thing was over, child, and that deed was done,’
They say, ‘When Cleopatra died, two thousand years agone,
And this tale was spun for men and that jest was told
When Sappho was a singing-lass and Greece was very old,
And this thought you hide so close was sung along the wind
The day that young Orlando came a-courting Rosalind!’

The foolish thing that hurt you so your lips could never tell,
Your sister out of Babylon she knows its secret well,
The merriment you could not share with any on the earth
Your brother from King Francis’ court he leans to share your mirth,
For all the ways your feet must fare, the roads your heart must go,
The old books, the dear books, they understand and know!

You read your lover’s hid heart plain beneath some dead lad’s lace,
And in a glass from some Greek tomb you see your own wet face,
For they have stripped from out their souls the thing they could not speak
And strung it to a written song that you might come to seek,
And they have lifted out their hearts when they were beating new
And pinned them on a printed page and given them to you.

The people close behind you, all their hearts are dumb and young,
The kindest word they try to say it stumbles on the tongue,
Their hearts are only questing hearts, and though they strive and try,
Their softest touch may hurt you sore, their best word make you cry.
But still through all the years that come and all the dreams that go
The old books, the dear books, they understand and know!

In which we see how to fight like a space pirate.

And how a Talent gets you where you want to go — faster. Episode 300 of Forgotten Classics: Talents Incorporated, chapters 7-8

Lagniappe: Everyone She Didn't Trust

She started drawing up a mental list of everyone she didn't trust, and had to stop immediately. She didn't have all day.

Mick Herron, Dead Lions

Worth a Thousand Words: St. Christopher

St. Christopher by Daniel Mitsui

I've mentioned before how much I love Daniel Mitsui's art, especially when he does an Asian take on Catholic saints and topics. I especially appreciate his explanations of the creative process for the symbolism. You can see that care and thought that go into his art from this excerpt of the St. Christopher page, which I encourage you to read in its entirety at the link.

I wanted the image to convey this weight bearing down upon the saint, and this determined much of the surrounding imagery, which represents all of Creation, according to day.

I have for some time been fascinated by the account of the six days of Creation given in Genesis, especially the way that God on successive days distinguished and then populated different dimensions. On the first day, by separating day from night, He created a difference of time. On the second, by placing the sky between heaven and earth, He created a vertical order. On the third, by moving the land and the water apart, He created a horizontal order. Over the next three days, this succession (temporal, vertical, horizontal) was repeated, as each dimension was filled with moving things: first, the celestial bodies that mark the days and seasons and years; second, the animals that move vertically (by flying or diving); third, the animals that mover horizontally upon the earth, including Man.

I made sure to include in the picture both day and night, sky and earth, water and land. The sun, moon and stars appear in the sky. Three small birds in the background and three aquatic creatures in the foreground (two eels and one frog) represent the fifth-day animals. The sixth day is represented by Christopher himself, and the seventh (that of God’s rest) by the Christ Child resting on the saint’s shoulders.

Each piece of art is like a visual feast.

Well Said: Why Such Fury Against Religion?

Why is there such a fury against religion now? Because religion is the one reliable force that stands in the way of the power of the strong over the weak.

Peter Hitchins

Pope Francis on Love in the Family

[Cardinal Francis George] said that it is insufficient simply to drop the truth on people and then smugly walk away. Rather, he insisted, you must accompany those you have instructed, committing yourself to helping them integrate the truth that you have shared. I thought of this ... often as I was reading Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. If I might make bold to summarize a complex 264-page document, I would say that Pope Francis wants the truths regarding marriage, sexuality, and family to be unambiguously declared, but that he also wants the Church’s ministers to reach out in mercy and compassion to those who struggle to incarnate those truths in their lives.

Bishop Robert Barron has a great overview of the Pope's exhortation "The Joy of Love" about love in the family ... which brings together the results of the two Synods on the family convoked by Pope Francis in 2014 and 2015.

Quicker summary, based on reading Bishop Barron's piece — the Pope is Catholic and the Truth, it ain't a-changin'. However, being Pope Francis, which is to say a good Catholic, he also counsels gentle methods to help people come to a knowledge of that truth in a disordered world or relationship.

Will I be reading this? Yes, indeed. Though it's long so it may be a bit before I do.

Here's where you can read or download the pdf.

If you don't want to wade through the pdf, Crux has the document chapter by chapter.