This may be a post that I... well, not so much 'regret' as consider to have been written in folly...
Last year's task got away from me (to watch through the Nicolas Cage filmography in chronological order and record my thoughts) and that last time I tried the year of Bible it was nearly scuttled as well. I completed the reading, but the posting part came up well short, unfortunately.
However, let it not be said that I am anything other than a glutton for punishment, so for 2015, we're going to do this again. It's been a couple of years, and I'm actually looking forward to seeing how/if my opinions reactions to various passages will/have changed.
One thing regarding formatting and approach, however: last time around I was trying to specifically write a reflection on the passage at hand. While I feel that this is a useful guiding principle, it raises some fairly obvious problems when it comes to those sections that are less substantive than others (I'm looking at you, Deuteronomy and various scattered genealogies!). So, I'm going to take it a bit easier on myself this time around. I'll still be aiming to post every day (or every couple of days at the very least) but I am going to leave myself a little leeway when it comes to the actual content, freeing myself up for those tangential directions that I never was much good at resisting anyway.
So, bring on January 1 and the start of a new project!
Friday, December 26, 2014
Monday, January 7, 2013
That's a wrap!
Right, so obviously the blogging aspect of this project fell by the wayside (considering this is my first post since the beginning of November...) but the reading side of it continued.
I actually wrapped up Revelation yesterday (after yet another marathon catch-up session spanning the past week) and officially managed to successfully read through the entirety of The Bible within a year.
In general, it was quite a good experience. There were some things that surprised me, some things that completely failed to surprise me, and more than a few challenging bits that caused entirely too much thought for the time of night that I finally sat down to do the readings.
I plan on continuing with a similar plan for 2013, but I'm not necessarily setting any lofty documentation goals for this one. I'll be keeping this blog around, though, and hopefully stopping from time to time as I find things that I think are interesting enough to write about.
Thanks to anyone who's actually reading this, and to all the people who sent messages encouraging me to keep up the reading and writing, I'm sorry I was only able to do one of those things.
Cheers!
I actually wrapped up Revelation yesterday (after yet another marathon catch-up session spanning the past week) and officially managed to successfully read through the entirety of The Bible within a year.
In general, it was quite a good experience. There were some things that surprised me, some things that completely failed to surprise me, and more than a few challenging bits that caused entirely too much thought for the time of night that I finally sat down to do the readings.
I plan on continuing with a similar plan for 2013, but I'm not necessarily setting any lofty documentation goals for this one. I'll be keeping this blog around, though, and hopefully stopping from time to time as I find things that I think are interesting enough to write about.
Thanks to anyone who's actually reading this, and to all the people who sent messages encouraging me to keep up the reading and writing, I'm sorry I was only able to do one of those things.
Cheers!
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Luke 4-5 - power
The reading - day 298 - Luke 4-5
Yes, this is the first post in two months.
Yes, this post is 17 books later in the canonical order.
Yes, this blog-a-day thing is harder than it sounds (or I'm just much, much worse at it than I thought).
Moving on.
Luke has always been one of my favourite books in the entirety of the Bible, which is maybe why it's the first one since early September to drag me out of the last stretch of writing doldrums. It appeals to me as a person with theology and English lit. degrees - Luke (yes, yes, making authorial assumptions - deal with it) is just great at the subtle elements of good storytelling, much moreso than the authors of any of the other Gospels.
Yes, this is the first post in two months.
Yes, this post is 17 books later in the canonical order.
Yes, this blog-a-day thing is harder than it sounds (or I'm just much, much worse at it than I thought).
Moving on.
Luke has always been one of my favourite books in the entirety of the Bible, which is maybe why it's the first one since early September to drag me out of the last stretch of writing doldrums. It appeals to me as a person with theology and English lit. degrees - Luke (yes, yes, making authorial assumptions - deal with it) is just great at the subtle elements of good storytelling, much moreso than the authors of any of the other Gospels.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Lam 3-5 - so... that's that...
The readings - Day241 - Lamentations 3-5
I guess I should have known that grief like Lamentation have a limited run - as it should - but I didn't expect/remember/whatever that it was such a short book. Shows how much I've been paying attention, I suppose.
Anyway, here in the second bit of Lamentations we get another "alternate view" of something we often hear about, but (I think) usually fail to grasp the actual horror of: the siege.
I was really struck in Jeremiah when it talks about the eventual conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, in that it was far from a quick slash-and-burn affair, but rather a 2-year siege. It's a tactic that's been used for millennia, and continued well into the modern era, with shocking stories of what people went through in WWII in the Siege of Leningrad and others.
I guess I should have known that grief like Lamentation have a limited run - as it should - but I didn't expect/remember/whatever that it was such a short book. Shows how much I've been paying attention, I suppose.
Anyway, here in the second bit of Lamentations we get another "alternate view" of something we often hear about, but (I think) usually fail to grasp the actual horror of: the siege.
I was really struck in Jeremiah when it talks about the eventual conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, in that it was far from a quick slash-and-burn affair, but rather a 2-year siege. It's a tactic that's been used for millennia, and continued well into the modern era, with shocking stories of what people went through in WWII in the Siege of Leningrad and others.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Lam. 1-2 - sad
Wow, so here we are. First post since June...
I suppose I should preface this by offering something by way of explanation for the huge absence. Well, it was a combination of a lot of things, including a horrendously unreliable Internet connection at home, various trips, etc, getting in the way of keeping on time with readings and finding time to post and other sundry things.
Most of all, though, it was because I could not for the life of me figure out what to do about blogging through the Psalms at such a quick rate. Anyway, the stagnation continued through Proverbs... and Song of Solomon... and Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah...
They're all good books. You should read them. No, I'm not going to try to offer any sort of post/summary on any of them. They're gone. The only way this blog will continue to live is if I just pick up from here and try to make another run at it.
Now, on to matters at hand: Lamentations.
I suppose I should preface this by offering something by way of explanation for the huge absence. Well, it was a combination of a lot of things, including a horrendously unreliable Internet connection at home, various trips, etc, getting in the way of keeping on time with readings and finding time to post and other sundry things.
Most of all, though, it was because I could not for the life of me figure out what to do about blogging through the Psalms at such a quick rate. Anyway, the stagnation continued through Proverbs... and Song of Solomon... and Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah...
They're all good books. You should read them. No, I'm not going to try to offer any sort of post/summary on any of them. They're gone. The only way this blog will continue to live is if I just pick up from here and try to make another run at it.
Now, on to matters at hand: Lamentations.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Job 40-42 - With a pink ribbon...
The readings - Day 164 - Job 40-42
Although Job has spent dozens of chapters moaning and whining and making all manner of wild accusations about God's character, there is the silver lining that shows up at the end.
Job, unlike some other books so far, actually has a fairly satisfying and summarized ending. After God's awesome summary of His own rad-ness, Job actually does as God says, mans up (God actually said to do this - it's awesome!) and just admits that he was wrong all along, he doesn't know everything, God's still the best and he's very sorry for being such a twit.
It's good stuff.
Then God takes a second to tell Job's friends that they're a bunch of jerks, restores all of Job's wealth (gives him new kids, too!) and land and livestock, and everyone lives happily ever after.
I still don't quite know what to make of God's willingness to just give Satan free reign over Job's life, or what exactly Satan was doing at a Heaven's Council meeting in the first place, but at least Job's story ends on an up note, and everything's back the way it was.
Although Job has spent dozens of chapters moaning and whining and making all manner of wild accusations about God's character, there is the silver lining that shows up at the end.
Job, unlike some other books so far, actually has a fairly satisfying and summarized ending. After God's awesome summary of His own rad-ness, Job actually does as God says, mans up (God actually said to do this - it's awesome!) and just admits that he was wrong all along, he doesn't know everything, God's still the best and he's very sorry for being such a twit.
It's good stuff.
Then God takes a second to tell Job's friends that they're a bunch of jerks, restores all of Job's wealth (gives him new kids, too!) and land and livestock, and everyone lives happily ever after.
I still don't quite know what to make of God's willingness to just give Satan free reign over Job's life, or what exactly Satan was doing at a Heaven's Council meeting in the first place, but at least Job's story ends on an up note, and everything's back the way it was.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Job 24-39 - God pays a visit...
The readings - Days 159-163 - Job 24-39
Job is a pretty great book, but it just got a whole lot better once I hit chapter 38.
You know those scenes in movies/TV shows where somebody (usually an underling of either a major superhero or a major supervillain) is ranting on and on about their superior only to eventually be confronted by their incredible bad-assness and look utterly, miserably foolish? Well, when that superior is God, it's a good show.
Job is a pretty great book, but it just got a whole lot better once I hit chapter 38.
You know those scenes in movies/TV shows where somebody (usually an underling of either a major superhero or a major supervillain) is ranting on and on about their superior only to eventually be confronted by their incredible bad-assness and look utterly, miserably foolish? Well, when that superior is God, it's a good show.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)