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| Saint Benedict "The Moor" Patron Saint of African Americans |
Week 1 - I create (find) a schedule to read the Bible in a year. The first day I read not only the first assigned reading, but in order to get a head I will read the next's days reading as well. This pattern of reading and getting ahead will last the first couple days.
Week 2 - I will get distracted by something that must be completed and miss a day or two of readings.
Week 5 - I have scaled back my plan to read only the old testament
Week 6 - Switch to the new testament.
Week 7 - Plan failed! abandon ship!
I am starting again to try and read the Bible in a year. Hopefully at age 28 I have picked up some tricks that will allow me to complete my readings.
Years ago when I tried to accomplish this the goal was much different. In my mind I saw reading the Bible from cover to cover as a mark of piety. In my Evangelical Christian circles I could lay down that badge of honor, "I've read the Bible from cover to cover." This time its different. My focus is not to plow through the book just to say I've done it. My goal this time is to read the text, and try to piece the grand narrative of the scripture together. I am interested to see what themes will emerge as I read with new eyes a very familiar book.
This week in my proseminar class we discussed the role of anthropologist. Dr. Bradley Levinson summed it simply. He said the role of an anthropologist is to study our own distinct cultures in hopes that we can render the familiar as strange. As I read the Bible over the course of this year my hope is that the familiar would become strange, and this ancient text would produce new thoughts, new questions, and new perspectives on my life under examination.
