Several weeks ago I picked up a copy of William Barclay's Introducing the Bible. There are many Christian's who find the Bible overwhelming, and feel as though it not something for them to understand and study. To those people I highly recommend this book because it gives an excellent overview of the Bible, how it came to be, and how to study it.

I haven't finished reading this book, and I am in the section on how to study the Bible. The following got me thinking about Bible study and weblogs.

The second rule for the study of Scripture is that it is best done within the fellowship of the Church.

I started to think about what are the best ways for using the Internet as a way to facilitate Bible study. The value of using the Internet is that it enables group interaction on a topic beyond the boundaries of time and space. Groups of people, located around the world and within different time zones can work together.

Several tools can be used for this facilitation: e-mail lists, message boards, and weblogs come to mind. But it seems to me that weblogs might be particularly well suited for Bible study because it provides a space for all of my own Bible study stuff. E-mail lists and message boards provide for group discussion, but those two tools make it difficult for me to see and review all of my own thoughts, notes and writing in one place.

While my weblog provides my view on a topic, other weblogs present different views on the same topic, and hyperlinks enable dialog between writers of different weblogs. So I see a weblog-based Bible study working something like this. First I pray. Then I read and listen. I may just read the Scripture, or I may also read a commentary. After the listening I write about how that particular Scripture speaks to me. Then I read other weblogs on the same piece of Scripture to read other views, and other perspectives and in doing so gain further insight and understanding. That may inspire further writing, in reaction to what others have written. Likewise, those who read what I have wrote may have their own insights and inspirations and chose to write about them. Through all of this the participants of the weblog Bible study hear the Word of God and grow.

I think this can work, and I am interested in exploring this topic further.

Frank McPherson: Bible Study