What Graduates of the Biblical School Are Saying

I used to wonder how the three readings at Mass really applied today. After all, there are no shepherds or lambs or Pharisees in my neighborhood.  There are no kings or pharaohs either. Egypt is a country in Northern Africa that is part of today’s world and a subject of ancient history. Why do the readings speak so terribly about what Egypt did to the Hebrews?  Egyptians don’t do those things today.

I have copies of the Douay-Rheims Bible, the Jerusalem Bible and the New American Bible. Each uses a slightly different phraseology to express a particular message in one or more of the books within the Bible. How come? I wondered why there wasn’t just one translation. And, we Catholics have a different translation from the one the Protestants use. Why is that?

But, then, I enrolled in the Catholic Biblical School four years ago.
The course begins in the first year with Old Testament Foundations – Genesis through Kings. The second year deals with the New Testament Foundations – Jesus and Discipleship. In the third year we returned to the Old Testament, dealing with the Exile and Restoration of the Israelites.  Finally, I’m finishing up in my fourth year with the conclusion of both Testaments and the impact of the Hellenistic World, i.e., the Greek, Roman, Gentile influence on how the Word of God is spread throughout the cultures of the world.

For those of you who have had similar questions or wonderings, I heartily recommend this program to you. For me, it was an eye opener; a faith strengthener, too. That which the Catholic Church teaches truly finds its roots in what our Lord taught. And, what started with Adam and Eve and is described in the Old Testament forward truly finds its solution logically in the birth, teaching, suffering, death and resurrection in our Lord.

Rich Irwin
Biblical School Class of 2010