Month 32 - Jonah

October's Through the Bible in Five and a Half Years is looking at Jonah - the most loved and most mis-understood of all the minor prophets. Starting at 7:30pm at 41 Linden Road on Monday 26th October.

Resources-wise, I'll be using James Limburg's and Peter C. Craigie's commentaries again. I'll also maybe look at a couple of animated films about Jonah including the recent VeggieTales version of the story and one from the Bible in Animation people. I also want to talk about the story of a "modern day Jonah". If you want to spoil it and read about that in advance, it's all here.

My friend Tyler Williams has also written various pieces on Jonah over at his Codex blog, including the insight that Jonah snored.

Month 31 - Obadiah

September sees us tackling the shortest book in the Hebrew Bible - Obadiah. A good time to take a week off? No sir-ee. For a start, you will probably never ever here someone talk about this book ever again. For a second, it gives us a chance to get really up close to a book, in a way that we can't even with the shorter books.

In terms of resources, again, I'll be using James Limburg's and Peter C. Craigie's commentaries. I'm also planning to use Douglas Stuart's commentary on it (he of "How To Read The Bible For All It's Worth" fame). Whether we'll manage to get to the bottom of why Obadiah is even in the Bible, time alone will tell.

Anyway, it all kicks off on Monday 28th September - 7:30pm at 41 Linden Road. Hopefully see you there.

Month 30 - Amos

I'm a little late in posting this, partly because I had been toying with the idea of cancelling this session in the midst of a crazy month. But it is very much on.

Amos is one of the most renown and accessible of the minor prophets, and his cry to "let justice flow like a river" is one of the most well known and popular in all scripture.

We'll be kicking off at 7:30pm on Monday 24th August 2009 at 41 Linden Road.

Resources-wise there no films but I'm working through a couple of commentaries. Peter C. Craigie's has certainly whet my apetite for the book and in addition to James Limburg's one I've also got a dedicated one from the Torch series that I use so often. Not sure whether I'll read all of those before Monday, but we'll see where we go.

Month 29 - Joel

This month we move onto one of the shortest books in the Old Testament: Joel. Starting at 7:30pm on Monday 27th July at 41 Linden Road. In terms of resources I'll be using the entries for Joel in James Limburg's and Peter C. Craigie's commentaries on the first few minor prophets. As the book is so short, I hope to go much more in depth into the book itself.

There are no filmed versions of this book, though in searching for them I did stumble across one that uses the quasi-Joel sounding phrase: The Day of the Locust from 1975 the year of my birth. Bizarrely it features a character called Homer Simpson, though the link to his more famous namesake is apparently coincidental.

Biblical Horror Stories for Children

...that's my title for my talk at this year's Greenbelt Festival. The idea is that I'm going to be looking at the parts of the Bible where God appears to have people killed, wondering why the place we're most likely to hear these stories is Sunday school, and asking how we should respond. I'm hoping to use a clip or two from Bible films, as there are some really good examples of how we selectively read the text to suit our sensibilities.

In part, I'm setting this page up now so that I can post links to any slides and clips I use in the talk itself. That way anyone listening on CD/MP3 won't miss out. So watch this space.

Month 28 - Hosea

Bit pushed for time this month so I won't write much. Suffice to say that the 28th session of Through the Bible in Five and a Half Years, or the 1st session of The Dirty Dozen starts at 7:30pm on Monday 29th June.

In terms of resources I've been reading the dedicated commentary by G.A.F. Knight, as well as the entries for Hosea in James Limburg's and Peter C. Craigie's commentaries on the first few minor prophets. This story has only been filmed once to my knowledge, and that was just last year. Oversold was a modernised version of the story set in Vegas, and was a solid effort for such a small production.

The Dirty Dozen: 12 Studies in the Minor Prophets

12 months. 12 Prophets. You do the Maths! Through the Bible in Five and a Half Years has come to the minor prophets, and is opening it up to anyone who just wants to do a year course. If you've ever wondered why you've never heard a sermon on Nahum, or why Obadiah is even in the Bible, this is for you. The first session on Hosea starts in June, and then we'll be exploring a different book each month until May 2010. If you're interested in coming along, or if you just want to find out more details, contact Matt, or keep checking the Through the Bible in Five and a Half Years blog for future updates.

Month 27 - Daniel

What better way to end a Bank Holiday weekend by looking at the book of Daniel? 7:30pm at 41 Linden Road on Monday 25th May 2009.

Resources wise I' mwell stocked up. Not only did we do Daniel in church a couple of years back (listen to the podcasts) but I also wrote an essay on it a few years ago. I own John Gibson's Daily Study Bible commentary, and have read those by Norman Porteous and Joyce Baldwin as well of parts of John Goldingay's. I also have Ernest Lucas's guide.

Filmwise though it's all a bit sparse as these posts explain.

Month 26 - Ezekiel

For one of the longest books in the Bible, Ezekiel is kind of obscure. Such is the fun of Through the Bible in Five and a Half Years - a chance to get your head around one of the Bible's biggest wackos.

Resources-wise I'll be drawing on some notes I had from the old London Bible College as well as looking at John B. Taylor's commentary. Wikipedia is a bit patchy, and there are no films to draw on except this obscure one I can't find out any details for, and a random misquote from Pulp Fiction.

Anyway, "the fun" starts at 7:30 at 41 Linden Road, 27th April 2009.

Month 25 - Lamentations

In contrast to its predecessor, Jeremiah, Lamentations is one of the shorter books in the Old Testament, and one of the most easily forgotten. Squeezed in between two of the Bible's most impenetrable texts - the prophetic ramblings of Ezekiel and Jeremiah, it's easily skipped. Not quite Wisdom, not quite a minor prophet, it's all in limbo.

But perhaps during a credit crunch it's one of the more appropriate books to be reading - a grieving man's lament over his broken city.

As most of the last session was spent watching the film of Jeremiah, I want to spend the start of the session looking at a couple of other things abut Jeremiah, who is, after all , traditionally associated with the writing of this book, before going on to concentrate on Lamenations itself. Kicking off at 7'@:30pm on Monday 23rd March at 41 Linden Road. Hopefully see you there.

In terms of resources, a couple of bits from Lamentations appear in the film, but I'll mainly be drawing on the usual texts, plus R.K.Harrison's commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations. If I turn up any interesting internet links in my research I'll add them below.

Edit: Oh, and I've just found out that Rob Bell's Mars Hill Church is coming to the end of a series on Lamentations.

Month 24 - Jeremiah

Coming up to the 2 year mark we arrive at Jeremiah. The longest book of the Bible (by number of words) is fairly unknown. One of the resources I've been looking at is H Cunliffe-Jones's commentary from the easily-available-in second-hand-bookshops Torch Bible paperbacks series. It's strange that what was probably a fairly pivotal book at the time so rarely surfaces in churches (except for the odd, out-of-context, citation of 29:11). There's a good outline at Bible.org

Films-wise there is just one (that I know of) - Jeremiah (1998), part of the Bible Collection.

Well be starting, as usual at 7:30 at my house, on the 23rd February.

Month 23 - Isaiah

New Year, new president, new biblical genre - prophecy. And Isaiah is obviously the big one with all it's "unto us a child is born"ing here, and it's "lion shall lie down with the lamb"ing there. As ever, things start at 41 Linden Road at 7:30 on Monday 26th Jan.

Rsources wise, there are stacks. I am shortly to be reunited with my library, so whilst I have already snaffled a couple of Isaiah commentaries, and already have a number of the course texts with me, I'll enjoy having those to dip into again.

But for what it's worth, Isaiah is given a very short shrift film-wise. About ten minutes of one Living Christ episode where the story from Isaiah 36-37 appears by way of introduction to the prophet and his writings, which in turn introduces Jesus, whom the series is really about.

Month 22 - Song of Songs

Just in time for Christmas we come to Song of Songs, arguably the best proof of the Bible's reliability that there is. After all, if you were going to make up a holy book you'd never put this collection of horny-but-odd poems in.

As with Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, Song of Songs (or Canticles as it's also known) features in a number of films, mainly those about Solomon. Indeed, whilst it's love poetry seems a little out of place in the Bible, it fits right into Hollywood's priorities.

Elsewhere, there are a number of online resources:Marcia Falk's commentary, Carl W. Ernst's introduction, Bible.org's introduction, ILovePhilosophy.com's new translation
And of course - Wikipedia. Plus you can read about all the rude bits here.

Month 21 - Ecclesiastes

Next session 24th November 7:30pm at 41 Linden Road. Hopefully I'll post some more on resources soon...

Barats and Bereta: Bible in a Minute

Month 20 - Proverbs

This month marks the big two zero and it's time for Proverbs. Those of us in Open Heaven looked at Proverbs in the summer of 2007, and so I guess the talks from that summer could form part of the resources for this month. I say could, because I'm not sure how much we really "did" Proverbs, and how much we simply taught wisdom for the 21st century by cherry picking the odd verse here and there. (When, for example, we considered how we should discipline children no-one suggested, for example, that we should beat them with sticks). And don't get me started on the whole "when Solomon said..." thing. That's not to say it wasn't a good sermon series - it was. I'd just like to come at it a different way.

On the plus side it means I have a range of commentaries to consult, and there's even a decent film clip.

Anyway, it all kicks off at 7:30pm at 41 Linden Road on Monday 27th October. See you then.

Month 19 - Psalms

September's "Through the Bible in Five and a Half Years" is looking at Psalms - the longest book in the Bible, at least in terms of chapters. It's also where we find the halfway point in the Bible - although where, exactly, you mark it depends on whether you mean halfway in terms of number of pages, chapters, words or something else entirely. That we reach this landmark only nineteen sixty-sixths of the way through the course is testament to the fact that from here on in the books get shorter.

The session will start, as usual, at 7:30pm but it will be at our new house - 41 Linden Road - and hopefully Digory will be feeling sleepy.

Resources wise I only have a fairly old commentary on Psalms, but I want to come at the book from a different angle than the one we used with the history books. Still working on what that will be, but then there's still a month to go.

Satan in Job

Following on from last night's discussion, here is the link to the article I mentioned. I had completely mis-remembered it's thrust. In fact, the article is even more interesting than I'd remembered. I should add that it's author, Tyler Williams, is an evangelical Old Testament scholar who's somehow also part of the Willow Creek Network. Anyway here it is:

The Mysterious Appearance of “Satan” in English Translations of the Book of Job

Month 18 - Job

Unabated by Digory Page's birth, Through the Bible in Five and a Half Years carries on this month with a look at Job. But there's a special guest in the chair - Stu Jesson.

Resources wise I'm going to leave it up to Stu - there's only a quarter of a film tha features Job anyway (De Oliveira's O Meu Caso), but I have it on good authority that there's going to be some Girard involved. The above image is one of the most challenging roles ever taken by famed Bible actor Gordon Bewes (he's out of the Good News).

And it's staying at our house - 41 Linden Road. Hopefully see you there.

Edit - Stu has found a Job clip from South Park.

Month 17 - Esther

The final session before I hand over to Stu for a month whilst Mel has our baby. 7:30pm at 41 Linden Road looking at Esther.

Not got much time to talk about resources, but I will point you towards the various posts I've written on Esther films over at Bible Films Blog. I'm going to use a clip or two.

Hopefully see you there.