Friday 26 December 2008

Reading the Bible in a Year

In addition to the many books available, lots of websites now provide downloadable plans, e-mail reminders and other resources to support those who want to read the whole Bible through in a specific period of time – mostly in a year, though the Bible in 90 or 100 days appears to be a current favourite.

Thinking of my own hopes for the year ahead, I’ve been looking at these:

The Bible in 90 Days

Bible Reading Plans

ESV Bible RSS Feeds

One Year Bible OnLine

Reading the Bible Without Additives in 100 Days

Read the Bible in a Year

Read the Bible in One Year

Zondervan – Bible Reading Plans

Although it has proved difficult to get hold of in the UK, International Bible Society has published a version of Today’s New International Version (TNIV), called The Books of the Bible, which presents the TNIV with chapter and verse numbers removed from the text (though the chapter and verse range is given at the bottom of each page), with no ‘distracting’ notes, cross references, or section headings in the text, and with the text printed in one column (though a bit too wide a column for ease of reading, in my opinion).

Further information is available here, and a downloadable pdf sample of a page of Genesis 1 is available here.

Testimonies of those who have used it suggest that it helps to see the Bible less as an an encyclopedia to be studied in small doses, and more as a book to be read in generous chunks.

International Bible Society also offer five reading plans related to The Books of the Bible, including:

The Whole Bible Experience

The Blended Bible Experience

Finally, this scheme...

Community of Readers

… promises to send a weekly email of the reading plan for those who sign up, plus provide the opportunity to engage with others doing the scheme, sharing insights, and offering encouragement along the way.

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