Adult Christian education has been my passion for the last thirty years. For the most part participants come to classes with open curious minds, ready for learning more about what the Bible and Church can be for them. The most common request from adults new to bible study is “where do I start?” Others with more experience want to get beyond Sunday school verse memorization, or the confusion of having read much of the text without gaining the meaning they had hoped for. Some have been discouraged at finding the Bible is not the handbook for fixing life’s problems they had been taught it was. There are of course many other reasons for desiring too dig deeper into scripture and its meaning, and each is worthy of respect and the best effort a teacher can give.
For many it’s tempting to start with Genesis and slog through the entire text. It’s something I strongly discourage. There is little to be gained by the effort without first knowing something about the Bible: what was the context in which each part was written; how do oral and written traditions work together; what kind of literature is in it; how did it get to us in the form we have it today? Exploring questions like these provides the foundation for understanding the text itself. Parenthetically, I think the same goes for teaching adults a second language. Rather than just vocabulary, an explanation about the language and cultural context can make learning vocabulary and grammar less difficult, at least for adults. But I digress.
I prefer to spend several sessions probing the history and culture of the ancient near East from the time of Abraham to the end of the first century c.e. The same sessions are filled with the story of how scripture came into being in the form we now have it. When it’s time to start reading, I suggest beginning with Matthew. It summarizes the core teachings of the faith in a way the other gospels don’t. It better links Christianity with its Jewish roots. With a little help from a qualified teacher, it opens the way to reading the other gospels with greater understanding. The second book to read is Isaiah. Its several writers take the reader through the struggle to understand God as One, the reasons for exile, the hope of restoration, the prophecies Christians understand as messianic, and how easy it is to slip into old ways once life looks good again.
It’s a preamble to a meaningful reading of the Old Testament, which is necessary if the New Testament is to be comprehended in its deepest meanings. The bible’s record of pre-history, history, prophecy and wisdom reveal God’s progressive self revelation to a people called to be a “light unto the nations.” Their two thousand years of struggle to understand what it means to be people of God is nearly a mirror image of our two thousand year struggle to understand what it means to be a people called to follow in Jesus’s way of love. The way of Jesus does not annul the Hebrew Scriptures, nor does it dissolve the role of Jews as a people of God. The way of Jesus simply adds gentiles, us, to the people called to bear the light of the kingdom of God in a broken and sinful world.
With a basic understanding of Hebrew scriptures in hand, then it’s appropriate to take on the other gospels, epistles, the revelation to John, a little of the Apocrypha, and a bit about how the canon came into being. An essential element in that process is to declare without fear of contradiction that Paul is not Jesus. Paul’s letters are always secondary to Jesus’s words and deeds.
From my experience, adults who participate in an understanding of the text’s history and structure are better prepared to proceed with deeper study, one that will nourish them for the journey of life. Hopefully they will continue to participate in classes that will advance their search for God’s holy word revealed and illuminated through biblical texts. Many often do continue but if not at least they have the necessary basics to become a more faithful Christian in worship, daily prayer, and the way they live their daily lives.