Bible U-read it [Updated]

A Self-guided Reading Plan for “Jesus, the Full Story”

Below is an unadorned list of New Testament (NT) documents (‘books’) in a reading order I think will give you a fairly useful portrayal of Jesus and his message. This sequence is intended to make NT connections and developments more obvious to you, the reader.
(I have seen an estimated total reading time for the NT of about 19 hours.)
List of books by name

• Luke - Gospel of
• Acts of (the) Apostles
• Thessalonians I & II
• Corinthians I & II
• Galatians
• Romans
• Colossians
• Ephesians
• Philemon
• Philippians
• Timothy I
• Titus
• Timothy II
• Matthew - Gospel of
• Hebrews
• James
• Mark - Gospel of
  
• Peter I & II
• James
• John - Gospel of
• John I, II, & III
• Revelation

The one way to gain the full story is to read the NT. Of course there is nothing to prevent anyone simply opening the NT and reading it from page 1. That may not be the most satisfactory approach to anyone inexperienced in the topic.
Finding it a challenge? Just ask God.

The list above replicates the approach that was taken in Vol 4 of a printed program, "Community Bible Experience" published by Biblica Europe in 2011 (see the website). Their publication  is called "The Books of the Bible: New Testament" (see picture). The translation is New International Version (NIV). The ISBN of the specific hardcover NT edition is 9780310448020.

Koorong catalogue lists the volume considerably cheaper than Book Depository, but stock low. (I have obtained through general bookseller in Australia.)

The approach in the Biblica program is to read the entire NT, as in a 'book club" (community), without the usual text numberings and in single column format.  (The same might more or less be accomplished by using Biblegateway.com and adjusting the settings.)

The entire Biblica program includes the full Bible and requires additional 3 Old Testament (OT) volumes to cover the amount of text. I have not viewed the OT volumes.

The reason for the unconventional order followed is explained in the book - essentially the criteria is - related content together, rather than length or tradition.

 

NOTE: To totally encounter "Jesus, the full story", ultimately involves also engaging with the Bible Jesus had - we call it the Old Testament. That is a longer project! The "Community Bible Experience", Volumes 1-3 probably offer a practical answer to that challenge. It may would be somewhat expensive...



Another edition (EAN 9781444795042) - is cheaper! And deservedly so!

 

Reference:
https://www.biblicaeurope.com/resources/cbe/

ADDENDUM 10/2/2024

Any readers in the UK may easily obtain the NT part of the CBE from the Scottish Bible Society. It is titled "Love, Death and Resurrection".

The one way to gain the "full story" is to read the NT. Of course there is nothing to prevent anyone simply opening the NT and reading it from page 1. That may not be the most satisfactory approach, especially to anyone inexperienced in the topic.

There is nothing to prevent anyone reading just any way that suits them! There is nothing to prevent anyone returning to the task whenever it suits them!

Trying, and finding it a challenge? Just ask God.

It would be a good thing to read the text in a "community", to share insights and questions and give and receive support. The approach in the program is to read the entire NT without the usual verse numberings and in single column format, and suggested as in a "book club" (community).  The unadorned text format might more or less be accomplished by using Biblegateway.com and adjusting the settings to remove verse numbers and footnotes.

The reason for the unconventional order followed is explained in the book - essentially the criteria is related content, rather than length or tradition.

Reference:https://www.biblicaeurope.com/our-work/community-bible-experience/introduction

 THE NT BACKGROUND (or "PREQUEL")

A Jewish Messiah: The ‘Jews’ of Judaea saw themselves as inheritors of anciently invaded territory, captured under God by their forebears, considerably more than 1,000 years before. “He brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, giving you their land for a possession, as it is still today.” (Deuteronomy 4:37b-38, NRSV). They had the account in their ‘Sacred Writings’, what we call the Old Testament (OT), which was the Bible of Jesus’ own day. Their Jewish identity was bound up in the religion (Judaism), with a focus on the Jerusalem Temple. The OT books were central and were available in community languages other than the original Hebrew.

It is more of a challenge to read the relatively extensive OT collection to get the cultural background to the events of the first century. Acts chapter 7 has a quick summary of the first part of the story of God’s ancient people, ie, Israel or the ‘Hebrews’ of Palestine.
I think a reading of the OT books called Samuel and those called Kings gives windows on ancestral political, social, economic and religious aspects.
Then perhaps try:  Jeremiah, Amos, Isaiah and Micah
(More briefly, Psalms (ie, song lyrics) 78, 105 and 106 give the ‘flavour’ of the history.)

Therein lies something of the story that shaped how Jesus and his contemporaries saw themselves. 

However, the standard Bible has nothing on the often turbulent centuries immediately preceding Jesus' birth, ie, nothing after Persia, nothing on Alexander, his successors and the coming of Rome. (A little is found in the "apocryphal" 1 Maccabees.)

UPDATE re "Community Bible Experience"

Current edition in stock

A recent (2017) publication from Zondervan in hardback is an equivalent to the original edition, closer than the H&S illustrated above.
Koorong Bookshop catalogue:
NT (The Books of the Bible) $19.99
Catalogue Code 480338
Product Code 9780310448020
ISBN 0310448026
EAN 9780310448020
UPC 025986448028
Pages 512
Department Bibles
Category New International Version
Sub-Category Portions
Publisher Zondervan
Publication Date Dec 2017
Dimensions 218 x 146 x 25 mm
Weight 0.576kg
Font Size 10.3pt
(This edition is #4 in a Zondervan set, covering the whole Bible.)