Opening the Bible (The New Church's Teaching Series, V. 2)

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Summary: One of the finest primers for new students to Bible Study.
Review: I recently taught a bible study class for a goup that varied from newcomer to bible study to very sophisticated scholars. This book gave the newcomers a more solid background that enabled them to understand what others were talking about and to ask questions that were based on theology rather than clarification of language. We adapted the study in order to include readings from several versions of the "Episcopal Short List" of Bibles so that people to get a broader sense of of the spirit of the message. I would recommend this to any one who is seriously interest in bible study.

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Summary: A great guide.
Review: Reading this book as an "inquirer," I found it be very balanced and approachable. It's full of real scholarship but reminds you that you can't always just read the book as an interesting ancient text; you have to read it as Scripture, too. Well-written, just the right length. Recommended.

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Summary: Take and read...
Review: The Episcopal church in the twentieth century took advantage of the general availability of publishing to good advantage, compiling through several auspices different collections and teaching series, the latest of which was only completed a few years ago. There have been 'unofficial' collections of teaching texts, such as the Anglican Studies Series by Morehouse press, put out in the 1980s, as well as an earlier teaching series. However, each generation approaches things anew; the New Church Teaching Series, published by Cowley Publications (a company operated as part of the ministry of the Society of St. John the Evangelist - SSJE - one of the religious/monastic communities in the Episcopal church, based in the Boston area) is the most recent series, and in its thirteen volumes, explores in depth and breadth the theology, history, liturgy, ethics, mission and more of the modern Anglican vision in America.

The second volume, by Roger Ferlo, is entitled 'Opening the Bible', looks at the first of the Anglican triad of scripture, tradition and reason. So much of the liturgy, so much of the sensibility even of the general English language has been considerably influenced by the spirituality and linguistic construction of the English Bible. How we read the Bible today, in all of its various translations, hearkens back to Tyndale and Cranmer, as they were putting together early English translations of the biblical texts and the liturgical texts. Ferlo sets the stage by setting out the context of Richard Hooker's sense of how to read the Bible: recognising the community reading; recognising the community of origin of the texts; recognising the development history of the canonical Bible; and looking at the history of how the Bible has related to and been interpreted by the longer tradition of Christendom in the world.

Ferlo looks at different aspects of reading the Bible, both practical and theoretical. Anglicans are used to reading the Bible for themselves in addition to having portions read aloud in services, and reciting together the psalms and other significant passages in the liturgy. Ferlo discusses everything from the relative merits of different translations of the biblical text and difficulties in translation and textual transmission to the advantages of various kinds of annotation and page layout. He includes a history of biblical development (manuscript and document transmission, division into chapters and verse, etc.), some connections to Jewish scripture (both Old Testament issues as well as midrashic and talmudic) and some of the finer distinctions between the reading of 'the Bible' and reading the Bible as 'scripture'.

Anglicanism is sometimes accused of not taking the Bible seriously. Nothing could be further from the truth, as this text will indicate. The Anglican church requires no particular hermeneutical framework, nor any particular translation of the text to be used. However, this freedom is accompanied by the longer traditions of the church that give respect and authority to certain kinds of interpretation over others.

Roger Ferlo was a professor of English at Yale University prior to becoming an Episcopal priest. He has been a Bible study leader and teacher in many parishes and dioceses, and brings the wealth of his experience to bear on this important topic in Anglicanism.

Each of the texts is relatively short (only two of the volumes exceed 200 pages), the print and text of each easy to read, designed not for scholars but for the regular church-goer, but not condescending either - the authors operate on the assumption that the readers are genuinely interested in deepening their faith and practice. Each volume concludes with questions for use in discussion group settings, and with annotated lists of further readings recommended.