Reading The Bible

I used to own a copy of Peake's Bible Commentary. It's not a book you want to wrangle without a lectern. Also the text is printed in two columns- which is unfriendly. Did I use it much when I was in training for the Ministry? I doubt that I did- though a fairly thick veil has been drawn across my memories of that time. The Meeting House has a copy- of the same vintage (1962) as mine- and I suggested Ailz might want to borrow it. She recoiled.

How ought one to read the Bible?

Where should one start?

Does one need a commentary?

Which translation should one use?

I find I can't answer any of those questions.

While we were at the Meeting House I picked up a copy of J.B. Philips' translation of the Four Gospels. I'd never really looked at it before- though it had some currency in its day- which was also my day as a clergyperson- and maybe it still does. I picked out a passage here and there and came to the conclusion that it was Phillips' aim to make his text as pedestrian as possible- on the theory that pedestrian equals accessible.

So for the ultimate test; how does he render the magisterial opening of John's Gospel?

"In the beginning God expressed himself...."

No, no, no, no....

As Ailz said when I read it to her, "Expressing is what nursing mothers do with their milk..."

I'll admit I know the Bible pretty well. Several decades of church going will do this for you. Being a literary type who also knows Shakespeare pretty well I favour the King James version. I like obscurities and archaisms. I like poetry.

My way with the Bible these days is to riffle through it- as I might with a pack of Tarot cards- and wait for something to catch my eye.