A new kind of GPS

A friend of mine, Dr. Marian Plant, recently published a book in the Vital Congregations series from Pilgrim Press. Faith Formation in Vital Congregations is a book that I will refer to many times in the coming years.

Dr. Plant suggests that one way of helping to promote biblical literacy in our congregations is for a pastor to share with his or her congregation a "GPS" list - Good Pastoral Suggestions for books, DVDs, videos, etc..

I think that's a great idea, so over the next several blogs, I'm going to list some books and authors that I believe will help you to grow spiritually as you make your journey along the path of faith formation.

We'll start that GPS list by looking at Bibles....you would be surprised how many people have asked me over the years the following question . . .

What kind of Bible should I be using?

It's not an easy question to answer. If you were to go into a bookstore - particularly a Christian bookstore - you would find hundreds of translations and editions, trying to fit all sorts of niches.

Of all the Bibles on the market, I believe your best option is to choose a Study Bible. Fortunately, there are several very good ones on the market.

The three that I recommend are the Harper Collins Study Bible, the New Interpreter's Study Bible, and the New Oxford Annotated Bible. Click on each of these titles - I've included links to amazon.com for all three - so you can read reviews or purchase the Bible of your choice. Incidently, these are all in Hardcover. You can purchase them in paperback as well.

All three use the New Revised Standard Version translation. For a variety of reasons, most Biblical scholars recognize this as the best English translation available.

All three are available with the deutero-canonical books (i.e., Aprocrypha). While Protestant Christians don't consider these books to be "canonical," it is recognized that they provide excellent resource material for understanding the times.

Of the three, my personal recommendation is the New Oxford Annotated Bible for the following reasons:

It is the most recently updated (2007).

Truly ecumenical, it includes books that would be used not only by the Roman Catholic Church, but also the Orthodox Church (i.e., Psalm 151, 3rd and 4th Maccabees).

The study helps - notes, essays, maps, diagrams, charts, etc. - are quite extensive.

The (Sabon) type font is very easy on the eyes and the [larger] print is easier to read.

The binding and paper is very good, thicker and sturdier than the other two Bibles. The binding - and thin paper - is particularly an issue with the Harper Collins Study Bible.

Nevertheless, you would profit immensely from using any one of these three Study Bibles.

I also want to recommend one other Bible, because of my strong interest in spiritual direction and adult faith formation.

That Bible is the Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible.

Richard Foster, author of Celebration of Discipline, one of the 20th century classics in spiritual reading, headed up a team of over 50 scholars that worked on the Renovare Bible.

Here are some comments from Publisher's Weekly regarding the RSFB:

"Foster wrote an introductory note explaining the team's basic mission: to provide 'a resource for approaching the Bible through the lens of Christian spiritual formation.' An opening essay encourages readers to see the entire Bible as 'the unfolding story of God's plan for how we can have an intimate love relationship with our Creator,' while 15 other essays speak to various aspects and stages of that relationship, from exile and travail to Christ's coming and the future hope of eternity. The editors also include spiritual exercises, profiles of key biblical figures and discussions of how those individuals practiced spiritual disciplines like prayer and worship. Christians of many different traditions will appreciate this ecumenical resource devoted to spiritual renewal."

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Not convinced? A friend of mine has been using this Bible on my recommendation for about two years. She likes it so much that this past Christmas, she gave a copy to a devout Episcopalian friend of hers. That woman, who has studied the Bible for all of her nine decades, has put her other Bibles away and is using this one exclusively. And it's already dog earred from use! That's as good a recommendation as I can make.

If you have any questions about any of these Bibles - or have any question about other translations or niche Bibles - let's talk!

Pastor Al