LarrySanger.org

How I’m Reading the Bible in 90 Days

The Bible is easily the most influential book of Western literature. If you haven’t read any part of it at all, you aren’t educated, period. But, for that matter, if you haven’t read it all the way through, then again you still have a massive hole in your education. That’s what I told myself last month, deciding once and for all to fill in that hole.

I guess I’m still an agnostic, but let’s just say I’m newly curious. I might explain why later on, but for now suffice it to say that for many years I was not particularly curious about the possible truth of monotheism or Christianity in particular—and now I am.

So last month I decided to start reading the Bible all the way through. While I had read quite a bit of it when I was a kid, then a chunk (25%?) again to my boys over the last decade as part of their homeschooling, I never did read the entire thing cover to cover. Maybe more importantly, I never really did understand it. Now that I am reading it, I am understanding Christian (and Jewish) theology much better than I used to.

Even with great care, the big problem about reading the Bible is understanding it, because it is a difficult text. I don’t care if you are super-smart and have read lots of difficult texts; if you haven’t read the Bible in particular, then you won’t understand it without a lot of help, period.

For such a truly ancient book, the Bible is actually quite an amazing piece of literature, history, theology, and philosophy, if you didn’t know. Not for nothing has it dominated and shaped Western civilization. Not for nothing did most the greatest minds of Western civilization (most philosophers other great minds such as Sir Isaac Newton) admired it for millennia. It may be confusing and confounding, but it is not stupid. It makes a lot more sense and is much more consistent than many atheists and agnostics believe. I am not declaring here that it is the Truth, but I am declaring that it is far more coherent and intelligent—again, properly understood—than many people in our modern, secular culture know. They think it’s stupid; the reason they think so is that they don’t understand it. Period. The significance of the Bible text is complex, layered, and deep. But you can’t understand that significance without reading it, studying it, and getting help (see below) with your study.

As I first post this, I’ve done 30 days of my Bible-in-90-days plan, and I’ve been clued in to some modern discoveries, ideas, and tricks for doing this. I thought I’d share them, if for no other reason than to memorialize this for myself in case I want to do it again sometime:

  • You don’t have to use a printed book to read the Bible. I’m using several apps concurrently. This is lighter, easier, and comes with audio and multimedia built in.
  • Top Bible apps? I have reviewed a lot of Bible apps fairly closely. At present (this could easily change), there are five stand-outs, all iPhone apps since I don’t use Android: YouVersion’s Bible app, Tecarta Bible, Bible Hub, Logos, and BLB (Blue Letter). None of these is perfect (they should contact me and I’ll tell them how to improve). What do these excel at?
    • YouVersion’s “Bible” app: The plethora of great reading plans (see below), the audio versions, and good but not perfect UX (design/ease of use), especially when it comes to switching between translations. Unfortunately, no commentaries available.
    • Tecarta Bible: Excellent (still not absolutely perfect) UX, good audio versions, free built-in commentaries. You might want to buy a commentary, and if so, I’d recommend doing it through this one because of the design (and they have dozens available, pretty cheaply too).
      Note: As reading hubs, the above two are the best I’ve found so far.
    • Bible Hub: While the design (it’s an app wrapper for a website) might be off-putting, they’ve got massive numbers of free commentaries that have become my go-to place for second opinions. The amount of free study/scholarly resources packed onto the website is amazing and as far as I can tell, superior to any other app’s by far. Just for example, check out this array of free commentaries on one Bible verse. So, that’s in the app. If only they would improve their appalling UX…
      Note: The above three are the ones I’ve been using on a daily basis for the last two weeks or so.
    • Logos: Lots of free resources, particularly the Faithlife Study Bible and online dictionary. The UX is “clever” but actually clunky, so I don’t use it much; I can see how some might like it. Especially good for word study and serious Bible scholarship.
    • BLB (Blue Letter): tap a version, get a bunch of resources including, again, a bunch of commentaries. Bible Hub is probably better. Good for word study.
    • So in general, I am currently using YouVersion for the reading plan, actual reading, and audio; Tecarta Bible as my “go-to” commentary; and others for backup commentaries. I also use a Bible dictionary app and a backup Bible atlas map when the commentaries fail me.
  • Here, let me try. If anyone reading this wants to pay me to plan out an open source, collaborative Bible study app from the ground up, I am willing to do so for a fee (gotta eat). If well-coded and my UX/design recommendations were followed, it suspect would blow all others out of the water. Gee, that doesn’t sound like Christian humility, does it? Well, let’s just say I find these apps frustrating, as useful as they are, and that it is easy for me to imagine how to improve them by using the best ideas from all.
  • Listen to an audio version while you read. Maybe this is a matter of taste, but I find that if the text is coming in through the ears as well as the eyes, I’m able to focus and understand better. But be sure you pick a decent audio version. There are a lot of clunkers, it seems to me. A lot of “dramatizations” in which the voice actors actually try to act out different parts leave much to be desired. I ended up preferring the deep British voice (free) that goes with the KJV in the YouVersion. No nonsense, no strenuous attempt to interpret the text or “do voices.” But it does read expressively, and not blandly, as many other (free) audio Bibles do.
  • Play with app reading settings. Your overall experience may be changed significantly, maybe even profoundly, by changing any one of these variables in your app, so play around with these:
    • Bible version/translation: KJV for literality and purism, NASB for (maybe) scholarly accuracy, ERV (“Easy-to-Read Version”) for ease of reading, etc.
    • Go-to reading app. You might prefer one I haven’t listed. Go with the one that’s easiest for you to use.
    • Go-to commentary. Do try several. Some are free, and some other feature-rich ones are quite cheap (less than $10) if you purchase through the app.
    • Go-to sets of reference (maps and Bible dictionary). Super important if you actually want to understand what’s going on, which you should, because your commentaries won’t always answer your questions properly. Keep trying until you get a set of reference materials that always answer your questions satisfactorily.
    • The speaking voice. I keep coming back to that deep-voiced British guy after trying out others. Frankly, I can’t stand the ones who lamely try to act out parts and get them totally wrong.
    • Reading plan, if you use one, which I recommend (see below).
    • Font style, font size, and background (white or black). Yeah, those things make a difference too.
  • Making sense, important. But back to strategies I’m following. In general, do make a real effort to understand the hard vocabulary as well as the person, tribe, and placenames. If you don’t, then yeah, it’s going to be merely puzzling and look like ancient nonsense to you. If you do, a lot of things start falling into place. Individually it may not matter whether Og or Abimelech was a king, priest, or general, or whether he came from came from Shechem, Moab, or Bashan, but attention to the full set of these details will help the whole to come together much more coherently.
  • Translation switching: for vocabulary. Pick a literal translation (I use the KJV) and stick with it. This can be harder to read but it will get you closer to the original thoughts than versions that are basically just rewritings. I gathered from a few different reliable sources that Bible scholars also like the NASB (North American Standard Bible). Still, I look at other, easier versions when I have trouble with the actual vocabulary of a verse (YouVersion’s Bible app is great for this: just tap on a verse, then tap “Compare”). This can be faster than consulting a commentary, if your issue is just about vocabulary.
  • Study Bible: for proper nouns. While switching back and forth between versions can help you puzzle out some archaic vocabulary, the person, tribe, and placenames require other kinds of resources to make sense of. The most efficient way to make sense of this is to use a study Bible (that’s what I do, anyway), especially one that comes with many detailed maps integrated just where they are needed (ESV Study Bible is what I use in no small part for the maps). But no study Bible seems to be complete, so the more the better. A Bible dictionary/encyclopedia will often help answer more general questions the commentaries don’t cover (like “Who was Abimelech again?”).
  • Intros: background for theology, culture, history, archaeology, etc. If you’re not familiar with the Good Book, you can’t just read the thing straight through. Especially if it’s your first time reading the Bible, you definitely will not understand it if you don’t have the assistance of not just commentaries, but also introductions or lectures. Book introductions (e.g., an introduction to the book of Genesis) or video lectures (which cover similar information) are essential to understanding the theology of the Bible above all, which is kind of the whole point, but also the narrative structure, which is important if you want to make sense of what you’re reading. I’ve been reading my study Bible’s text introductions sometimes, and always also watching short YouTube videos.
  • Study the general concepts. Sometimes you’ll notice certain concepts coming up again and again without much introduction or explanation, things like covenant, sacrifice, various angelic beings, redemption, forgiveness, etc. When you come across these and you really have no idea what they really mean, look them up and read several paragraphs about them, at least. If you don’t have at least some rough understanding of those (and quite a few other) concepts it is absolutely certain that you will not understand the Bible. Many of those concepts are very unfamiliar to modern, largely amoral, secular minds, and require special explanation.
  • Reading the Bible in 90 days is doable and is a good idea. There are lots of “reading plans” built into several Bible apps, including the top two listed above. Again, YouVersion’s Bible app has the biggest selection that I found and their reading plan feature is very well designed. Now, most whole-Bible reading plans are for 365 days, but that struck me as being too slow. For one thing, as with any body of knowledge (think especially of foreign languages), the more you jam it all in together in a relatively short space of time, the more mental connections you will make and the better understanding you will have. So I experimentally tried out the 90 day plan, and worked my way up to doing all of a day’s work in one day. I think requires something like 90-120 minutes per day—maybe sometimes more. This includes consulting resources such as commentaries.
  • On “The Bible Project.” So a seminary professor and a writer got together with a team of dozens to produce some quite well-made, opinionated, extremely informative videos about not just every book of the Bible, but how to read it and various Biblical concepts. These videos are part of a daily orienting “devotional” that goes along with the reading plan I chose. I’m not 100% sure I trust the theology of these videos (er, so do they really think the seraphim are flying snakes, like the pagan Egyptian critters?), but they sure are handy in how they encapsulate a lot of information briefly. I’m checking out other video series as well, anyway.
  • Do searches on critical questions. Naturally, if you’re the least bit curious, you’ll have hard and critical questions. Why does God seem to be so, um, harsh in the Old Testament? What really do the Israelites have to atone for? What’s the point of all the sacrifices? Is there any real reason to take the history of the Gospel story seriously? Etc. Use your search engine of choice to look up the answers. You might or might not be convinced by the answers (I’m afraid I’m not, in some cases), but if you don’t know how intelligent, well-informed, and committed believers answer such questions—and especially if you assume that they have no answers to such questions, because they’re not smart enough to think of the questions or take them seriously—then again, I guarantee you simply won’t understand what’s going on when you read the Bible.
  • Do not zone out and let the words wash over you. Look, maybe you don’t need to understand everything in the greatest detail, as a serious scholar does, but if you let a verse pass you by and you can say to yourself, “Wait, what did I just read, and what did it mean?” and you don’t know, then you’re not really reading. You’re sort of pretending to read. Don’t do that. If you let whole sections, chapters, or books go past you when you’re on autopilot, I guarantee you’ll miss something important. The only time when you can safely skip something is when you’re going through “the begats,” the repetitive details of sacrificing (but going through one of the repetitions seems necessary), the word descriptions of boundaries of the territories of the twelve tribes, and other such things that are best regarded as reference information inserted into what is otherwise a narrative.
  • I walk and read. I happen to pace through my whole house as I read, getting my hourly walking minutes in (something I do for health) and my reading time in. By the end of the day I’ve finished my day’s reading. If not, I do another half-hour’s reading after the kids are in bed, no problem. Maybe you can read while on the train, or while on the treadmill, or whatever.

There are of course many other things I am not doing (or, not so much) and that at a future date I might recommend: Bible study groups, both online and in face-to-face; getting help from an actual human being (always a good idea); doing a course on the whole Bible concurrently with reading (something I started on The Great Courses Plus, since we have a subscription, but found was too much of a commitment to do along with 60-90 minutes of daily reading).

Anyway, there you have a catalog of strategies I’ve followed the last few weeks. Since I’m far from being an expert on any of these subjects, I submit these just as ideas, and maybe more experienced people will be able to give me more ideas as well.

UPDATE: I finished in 100 days, and then immediately started re-reading it in 365 days.

by

Larry Sanger

“Internet Knowledge Organizer.” Currently President of the Knowledge Standards Foundation, started Wikipedia and various other educational and reference sites. Ph.D., Philosophy, Ohio State, 2000. [read more]

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9 responses to “How I’m Reading the Bible in 90 Days”

  1. Bill

    The writer of the book of Matthew relates, that the angel that was sitting on the stone at the mouth of the sepulchre, said to the two Marys, chap. xxviii., ver. 7, “Behold Christ has gone before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him; lo, I have told you.” And the same writer at the next two verses (8, 9), makes Christ himself to speak to the same purpose to these women immediately after the angel had told it to them, and that they ran quickly to tell it to the disciples; and at the 16th verse it is said, “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them; and when they saw him, they worshiped him.”

    But the writer of the book of John tells us a story very different to this; for he says, chap. xx., ver. 19, “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week [that is, the same day that Christ is said to have risen,] when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst of them.”

    According to Matthew the eleven were marching to Galilee to meet Jesus in a mountain, by his own appointment, at the very time when, according to John, they were assembled in another place, and that not by appointment, but in secret, for fear of the Jews.
    The writer of the book of Luke contradicts that of Matthew more pointedly than John does; for he says expressly that the meeting was in Jerusalem the evening of the same day that he [Christ] rose, and that the eleven were there. See Luke, chap. xxiv, ver. 13, 33.

    Now, it is not possible, unless we admit these supposed disciples the right of willful lying, that the writer of those books could be any of the eleven persons called disciples; for if, according to Matthew, the eleven went into Galilee to meet Jesus in a mountain by his own appointment on the same day that he is said to have risen, Luke and John must have been two of that eleven; yet the writer of Luke says expressly, and John implies as much, that the meeting was that same day, in a house in Jerusalem; and, on the other hand, if, according to Luke and John, the eleven were assembled in a house in Jerusalem, Matthew must have been one of that eleven; yet Matthew says the meeting was in a mountain in Galilee, and consequently the evidence given in those books destroys each other.

    The writer of the book of Mark says nothing about any meeting in Galilee; but he says, chap. xvi, ver. 12, that Christ, after his resurrection, appeared in the other books say nothing about any eart into the country, and that these two told it to the residue, who would not believe them. Luke also tells a story in which he keeps Christ employed the whole day of this pretended resurrection, until the evening, and which totally invalidates the account of going to the mountain in Galilee. He says that two of them, without saying which two, went that same day to a village call Emmaus, three score furlongs (seven miles and a half) from Jerusalem, and that Christ, in disguise, went with them, and stayed with them unto the evening, and supped with them, and then vanished out of their sight, and re-appeared that same evening at the meeting of the eleven in Jerusalem. – Thomas Paine, The Age Of Reason.

    Reply
    1. Larry Sanger

      If I wanted to respond to Thomas Paine, I would first want to investigate attempts to reconcile the various accounts, like this one.

      Bear in mind that it is unlikely that the editors of the New Testament thought the different gospel accounts contradicted each other, but rather complemented each other. Or else why would they regard them all as being true?

      Do you suppose that they were idiots and not inclined to pay attention to details?

      Reply
      1. Bill

        The different accounts of the resurrection are full of contradictions. They can’t even agree on whether Jesus was crucified on the day before Passover (John) or the day after (the other three).

        What were the last words of Jesus? Three gospels give three different versions.
        Who buried Jesus? Matthew says that it was Joseph of Arimathea. No, apparently it was the Jews and their rulers, all strangers to Jesus (Acts).

        How many women came to the tomb Easter morning? Was it one, as told in John? Two (Matthew)? Three (Mark)? Or more (Luke)?

        Did an angel cause a great earthquake that rolled back the stone in front of the tomb? Yes, according to Matthew. The other gospels are silent on this extraordinary detail.

        Who did the women see at the tomb? One person (Matthew and Mark) or two (Luke and John)?
        Was the tomb already open when they got there? Matthew says no; the other three say yes.

        Did the women tell the disciples? Matthew and Luke make clear that they did so immediately. But Mark says, “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.” And that’s where the book ends, which makes it a mystery how Mark thinks that the resurrection story ever got out.

        Did Mary Magdalene cry at the tomb? That makes sense—the tomb was empty and Jesus’s body was gone. At least, that’s the story according to John. But wait a minute—in Matthew’s account, the women were “filled with joy.”

        Did Mary Magdalene recognize Jesus? Of course! She’d known him for years. At least, Matthew says that she did. But John and Luke make clear that she didn’t.
        Could Jesus’s followers touch him? John says no; the other gospels say yes.
        Where did Jesus tell the disciples to meet him? In Galilee (Matthew and Mark) or Jerusalem (Luke and Acts)?

        Who saw Jesus resurrected? Paul says that a group of over 500 people saw him (1 Cor. 15:6). Sounds like crucial evidence, but why don’t any of the gospels record it?
        Should the gospel be preached to everyone? In Matthew 28:19, Jesus says to “teach all nations.” But hold on—in the same book he says, “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans” (Matt. 10:5). Which is it?

        Reply
        1. Larry Sanger

          You just cut-and-pasted material already found online. How am I supposed to know there is a person there ready to engage with me himself, intelligently, in his own words?

          Did you bother clicking on the link I gave you above?

          I’m not interested in debating something I’m not sure about myself with someone who clearly isn’t interested in (or, probably, capable of) articulating a charitable interpretation of a complex body of thought.

          https://effectiviology.com/principle-of-charity/

  2. R. Wayne Fournier

    Scrolling down, this is the second of your posts that I read. May I please recommend “First Fruits of Zion”, an excellent teaching source of the Jewish roots of Christianity. HaYesod is the first course recommended, then on to Torah Club study. ffoz.org Thanks, and nice to read your thoughts.

    Reply
  3. Nick Katko

    Hi Larry, it certainly is fascinating to see the trajectory of your mind over the years. You baby-reading article was helpful in our own adventure, with my 4 year old now reading almost at an adult level. I see our paths are similar in more ways than one and hope that I can be of service in your Bible reading adventure.

    The highest quality audio Bible I have found is the one put out by https://dwellapp.io – which, while not free, has this special reverence about it, as described in their kickstarter video from a few years back: https://vimeo.com/260103143 I think you’ll also enjoy their app, it has some features that are not in any of the other Bible apps. And they have the KJV in a British accent as well!

    The best intros to each book of the Bible that I have come across have been from the original creator/inspiration behind the Blue Letter Bible app, a gentleman by the name of Chuck Missler. His background in the tech industry makes for a most fascinating perspective, especially for techies like us. He has an overview of the whole Bible called “The Bible in 24 Hours”: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRj8AJuzeJRwHdeFua3pzmwPB_JCS0mIq

    But I’d imagine that it is his deep dives into the individual books that would interest you most. Here’s an example of his notes for the book of Genesis: https://cobalt.rocky.edu/~hyla.thompson/bible_notes/01%20Genesis%20Notes.pdf

    Reply
  4. Jane Harvester

    Just some notes to consider.

    The gospels are presented showing Christ as King, Servant, Man, and Son of God – in that order; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Read them with the traits of one vs. the next in mind. The genealogy is given in Matthew to prove his legal kingly lineage; there is no need for such a thing in the book of Mark, as Christ is presented as servant to mankind. I’m sure you can find other such examples.

    People who think the Gospels contradict each other need to think of them like the story of the blind men with the elephant. To one, it is a slender creature with a tuft of hair on the end. To another, it is a snakelike creature with hot breath and hard horns on either side. To another it is broad and smooth. To yet another it is wrinkled. Are all of these men wrong? No. Do they all have incorrect information? No. Are they deliberately trying to confuse each other or the people they are talking to? No. They all have true pieces of the whole of reality, but they do not comprehend the whole. They appear to contradict each other but the contradictions are unfounded as each has a real truth and those truths fit with the rest, even though they individually cannot understand it. Only one who sees the whole elephant understands the whole elephant, and that all of its witnesses are telling the truth.

    As an example, “Could Jesus’ followers touch him” – Christ specifically said at that time that he had not yet ascended to his Father (John 20:17). I’m not sure what that entailed – I’m guessing because he was both the last high priest as well as the actual lamb without spot or blemish that was sacrificed, he was not to be made unclean or impure until the sacrifice had been completed; clearly by the time he invited Thomas to put his hand in his side he had gone to the Father to do whatever it was he needed to do. (John 20:27) No contradiction, simply an understanding of timelines.

    If you want to read some in-depth study assembled to harmonize Christ’s birth and last days, I highly recommend the first editions of Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed and Jesus Christ Our Passover. All of the information in them is taken from the Bible with a view toward science. Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed talks about what the magi saw, and the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles presented a Christmas show based on that book. Jesus Christ Our Passover explains the apparent contradictions surrounding the timeline when Christ was executed and resurrected, as well as the symbolism and fulfillment in his sacrifice. If you can’t find copies online – they can be fairly expensive – there may be copies in the Internet Archive (but I haven’t checked).

    God and His son are real. The Bible is a book about human mistakes, God trying to get people out of the calamities they bring upon themselves through corruption, anger, lust, stupidity and greed, then providing the eternal fix for it all through Jesus Christ, and being a loving Father to His family.

    Signs, miracles and wonders are real and present today, too, but that’s a discussion for another day.

    Reply
  5. Leandro

    Have you checked Crosswire (virtual) Bible Society’s Project Sword? There are apps for all platforms, such as And Bible and Xiphos.

    Reply
    1. Larry Sanger

      I installed eSword in a Windows Virtual Machine, and it was OK—not really better than things I was already using, but potentially useful. As to “And Bible” and Xiphos, frankly, I couldn’t figure out how to install them. I mean, I’m sure I could figure it out but it was taking too long.

      Reply

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