Thing 23 - update
Jul. 6th, 2010 07:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thingism23. Finish reading the Bible (current progress: finished Ezra)
Read the Book of Ezra last night. I'm reading the New Catholic Study Bible [St. Jerome Edition, Today's English Version, Catholic Bible Press, 1985] cover to cover. Maybe that's not everybody's favorite version, but it's what I had on hand. At the very least, it'll give me the gist. The way I figure it, roughly three quarters of the US population identifies themselves as Christian. What better way to gain an understanding of your fellow man than to read the book most of them aspire to live by? And even if they don't, the Bible is the origin of innumerable phrases, stories, and other cultural phenomena.
It's all part of the Big Religious Reading Project, which I belchingly refer to as the BRRP. The idea is to eventually read texts from bunches of religions, but I figured the Bible was a good place as any to start. As I read, I summarize and add commentary on another blog.
The thing is, I'm having loads of trouble making time to read the thing because so much of it is soooooo boring. Seriously: I started with Genesis in August of 2006, and have barely scratched the surface of the Old Testament. It doesn't help that I only pick it up about once every six months or so. I'm hoping that having it as part of my 101 things will give me the impetus I need to finally finish it. Every other book in line for the BRRP is several orders of magnitude shorter, and there are a few I'm really looking forward to.
Read the Book of Ezra last night. I'm reading the New Catholic Study Bible [St. Jerome Edition, Today's English Version, Catholic Bible Press, 1985] cover to cover. Maybe that's not everybody's favorite version, but it's what I had on hand. At the very least, it'll give me the gist. The way I figure it, roughly three quarters of the US population identifies themselves as Christian. What better way to gain an understanding of your fellow man than to read the book most of them aspire to live by? And even if they don't, the Bible is the origin of innumerable phrases, stories, and other cultural phenomena.
It's all part of the Big Religious Reading Project, which I belchingly refer to as the BRRP. The idea is to eventually read texts from bunches of religions, but I figured the Bible was a good place as any to start. As I read, I summarize and add commentary on another blog.
The thing is, I'm having loads of trouble making time to read the thing because so much of it is soooooo boring. Seriously: I started with Genesis in August of 2006, and have barely scratched the surface of the Old Testament. It doesn't help that I only pick it up about once every six months or so. I'm hoping that having it as part of my 101 things will give me the impetus I need to finally finish it. Every other book in line for the BRRP is several orders of magnitude shorter, and there are a few I'm really looking forward to.
