Today, I start the Bible in 90 Days Challenge. A wonderful friend invited me to join their B90 group, and I was eager to say YES. One slight problem, however... The Bible in 90 Days Challenge programming is for a non-Catholic bible. What's the problem, you ask? Oh, just a little thing called the deuterocanonical texts, that's all.
If you break it down and if I want to read the Catholic bible in 90 days (which let's face it, I do!), then I have 7 more books of the bible to fit in these mere 90 days of intense reading. Which books am I referring to? That would be: Baruch, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Sirach, Tobit, and Wisdom. If anyone has a great plan for me to fit these extra books into the structure of B90, now would be the time to share your expertise with me.
Don't get me wrong, I've read the Old Testament before when I was taking graduate level theology courses at Ave Maria University, but it was a quick read. The reading required for those classes was so intense I couldn't keep up and ultimately dropped out of the program. Maybe again someday...
I'd really like to read the Old Testament using the newest edition of the New American Bible, but I'm torn between that and the RSV Catholic Edition by Ignatius, which was required reading for courses in theology. But, honestly, I'm leaning towards my NAB "The Catholic Study Bible" because I can reread the introduction materials for each book, giving a great reference point. Maybe I have too many bibles...
Anyway, I will be blogging about my reading, impressions, frustrations, new insights, and whatever else may surface. Get ready bible, here I come!
I have completed B90days the past two springs. 7 More books is a lot more reading. I would urge you to skip the study bible. Stick with the Scriptures and don't follow any rabbit trails or possible rabbit trails. If you really want to fit in those extra 7 books, you will already be reading an enormous amount of material. Stick with that. Probably the best way to do this, since there isn't a Catholic schedule posted, may be:
ReplyDelete1) Take your trimmed down version (no study notes) and divide the total number of pages by 90, and just read through it cover to cover at that # of pages per day. Or,
2) Follow the B90Days bookmark schedule and also split the canons into 90 and read a piece of that each day too.
For me, I'd just divide the whole thing by 90 and plough ahead. :) Be sure to tweet your progress!
~Dawn @ 5kidsandadog.com (@MommaKnows)
Thanks, Dawn! God provides! My B90Days group decided to start a week later, so I'm using this week to read my 7 extra books of the bible. :) Tobit is already done! So excited. :)
ReplyDeletePerfect!
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