Month 5 - Deuteronomy

Session 5 of Through the Bible in Five and a Half Years is on the 23rd July looking at Deuteronomy.

As ever there are a few resources I'd like to point out in addition to the material in the recommended reading in the sidebar.

In terms of published works, Philip Yancey writes a great chapter on this book in "The Bible Jesus Read". It's a great and insightful read, (although it has scant regard for the Documentary Hypothesis) and I only really realised in looking for accompanying film clips that it's Yancey's narration, rather than a particular film, which has formed the dominant mental image in my mind.

Speaking of the Documentary Hypothesis, Wikipedia not only has an article on Deuteronomy itself, but also on the possible writer behind it - the Deuteronomist.

The Deuteronomy session is on Monday 23rd July, at 5 Meadow Lane, starting at 7:30pm. It'd be great to see you there.

Resources for Numbers

I promised at the end of May to post some resources for Numbers, but I've been surprised to find that there are so few (other than the book itself).

One excellent commentary on the book is by Mary Douglas who I mentioned in the session on Leviticus. I decided to splash out for the book on this one and have really enjoyed it. Numbers is far more interesting than you might think at first glance!

Otherwise though there's a bit of a dearth of information aside from the recommended reading (see sidebar). So why not go easy and play one of these Bible Fight games instead?

The Numbers session of "Through the Bible in Five and a Half Years" is taking place on Monday (25th June) at 7:30 at 5 Meadow Lane.

Month 4 - Numbers

Session 4 of "Through the Bible in Five and a Half Years" - Numbers - is taking place on Monday 25th June at 7:30 at 5 Meadow Lane.

I'll add some resources some time in the next few weeks.

Thoughts on Levitcus

I really enjoyed last night's session on Leviticus. In some ways it's a shame that my reading has to race onto Numbers rather than look more at some of the issues we discussed last night more deeply.

I mentioned Dame Mary Douglas last night whose work on Leviticus was apparently quite groundbreaking. There are a few obituaries at The Guardian and The Times. You can also read summaries of her work by David Biale or this unnamed author.

Better still, some of her work is available on Google Books, so you can read bits for yourself of her main works "Leviticus as Literature", and "Purity and Danger".

Edit: Finally, anyone wanting to read or find Steve Chalke's thoughts about atonement should read the article he wrote for Christianity and Renewal Magazine. He says far more here than he does in the "Lost Message of Jesus" book

Month 3 - Leviticus

Session 3 of "Through the Bible in Five and a Half Years" - Leviticus - is taking place on Monday 28th May at 7:30. The venue (as always) is 5 Meadow Lane.

Resources for Leviticus are a lot harder to come by than for Genesis and Exodus. There are obviously the usual recommended reading (see right), and of course the best place to start is the book of Leviticus.

In terms of print resources, a few years ago I found work by Rene Girard and Gil Baille useful. They are anthropologists with particular interest in sacrifice. As for dedicated commentaries, Martin Goldsmith's Leviticus to Numbers turned out to be a disappointment, The Daily Study Bible one might be worth a look.

Online resources are a little easier to come by. Wikipedia's article is a good starting point, although as ever you need to take what you read there with a pinch of salt. Leviticus has been in the news more recently because of the discovery of an old fragment of text from the book. You can read more about it at the Codex blog, although much of the discussion revolves around the subsequent alleged mistreatment of one of the professors involved. Tyler also surveys commentaries on Levitcus for anyone interested in buying one.

Sadly also, films are none too plentiful. The best place to look is films about Judaism rather than Biblical epics, such as The Ten Commandments. I hope to use a clip from Ushpizin on Monday, one of the best films I've seen in recent years looking at faith. I imagine there are a number of others that would also relate to Leviticus such as Trembling Before G-d.

Month 2 - Exodus

This month's Through the Bible in Five and a Half Years is looking at Exodus. The session is actually going to run twice with the first presentation Monday 30th April being repeated on Wednesday 2nd May. Both will take place at at 5 Meadow Lane and start at 7:30pm.

In addition to the book of Exodus itself and the general recommended reading (see side panel), here are a few resources you might like to check out:

There are numerous commentaries on Exodus, but one book that really challenged my thinking was Jonathan Kirsch's Moses: A Life. Tyler Williams' Codex site lots of useful information about commentaries on Exodus.

Last month I mentioned the Bible Dudes website, and it's relevant once again. Bible Dudes is a fantastic site, funny and light-hearted, whilst giving a solid introduction to certain aspects of the bible. The Biblical Studies pages will be particularly relevant for "Through the Bible in Five and a Half Years". Picture Bill and Ted doing Biblical Studies rather than basic history, and then imagine someone parodying that but making the information reliable and informative and you're about there. Easily the most interesting and readable introduction ever crafted.

In terms of film resources, there are a number on the subject that are worth getting hold of. The classic is Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 classic The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston. At least half of it is pure fiction, but, strangely, it still informs how most of us think about these stories even if we haven't seen it. There's an amusing film at YouTube which turns footage from this film into a spoof trailer for a high school drama - Ten Things I Hate About Commandments.

The story has also been revisited three times in the last decade or so. The Bible collection kicked it all off in 1996 in Moses starring Ben Kingsley. Two years later Dreamworks released the animated The Prince of Egypt, and then last year a US TV mini-series was released also called The Ten Commandments. For an alternative approach, each of Kieslowski's ten Dekalog films deals with a different one of the commandments. There are two articles about Moses in film at the Journal of Religion and Film.

Month 2 - Exodus - Dates

Due to popular demand we're going to experiment with running the same session twice for a while. The first time through will continue to be on Mondays, the second will start on Wednesdays.

So we’ll be looking at Exodus on Monday 30th April and Wednesday 2nd May. It would be great to see you at one of the sessions. I’ll update this site shortly with some more information, as well as posting some reflections / notes from Monday's session.

Month 1 - Genesis

The first session of Through the Bible in Five and a Half Years takes place on the 26th March at 5 Meadow Lane, Loughborough. We'll start at 7:30pm.

In addition to the book of Genesis and the general recommended reading (see side panel), here are a few resources you might like to check out:

John L Gibson's 2 bible commentaries in the Daily Study Bible series are a great introduction to looking at Genesis. There's a brief introduction followed by a few verses and some commentary on each day. I own both volumes, and Open Heaven owns volume one.

In terms of online resources, Tyler Williams' Codex site has all kinds of useful information. In addition to his Genesis commentary survey, he has also started a series on his blog on Creation in Ancient Mesopotamia and how that links to the biblical accounts of creation. Lastly there is a brilliant 10 verse Genesis Limerick where each line. All these posts are bunched together under the heading "Genesis".

Two other web sites worth checking, although perhaps afterwards rather than before are the Bible Dudes site, and the Just So Stories. The "Just So Stories" are the nearest modern day parallel to one of the types of literature we find behind Genesis. Bible Dudes is a fantastic site, funny and light-hearted, whilst giving a solid introduction to certain aspects of the bible. The Biblical Studies pages will be particularly relevant for "Through the Bible in Five and a Half Years". Picture Bill and Ted doing Biblical Studies rather than basic history, and then picture someone parodying that but making the information sound and informative and you're about there. Easily the most interesting and readable introduction ever crafted.

Finally, I wrote an article for Open Heaven a couple of years ago looking at films based on the stories from Genesis, which I deftly named Genesis Films.