Best Bible for research?

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Okay for a long time I've just been skating by saying I'm Agnostic, but my Catholic mom is on me trying to get me to develop a more spiritual life and go to Church. I've felt I was reasonably spiritual in my own way but I think my mom is burdened with the feeling I'm going to Hell or something.

I want to discuss this and question it but I want to be as diplomatic about this as I can because I think feelings can be hurt over this very easily. I want to try to be respectful of what my Mom believes yet also come to terms with Christianity in my own way. For example one of my initial moves was to explore various Denominations, especially any with Universalism views.

So what this thread is about is the next step. I feel that to address this I need to assemble research and reference material that will help me address certain issues. I'm not sure a basic King James Bible is good enough. I'm concerned about certain things like what is called Hell and what is Gehenna. If possible I would like a bible with a timeline of when all the books of the bible were finished. It do think it's a matter of concern that some were written decades after Jesus' time based on Oral Tradition or borrowing from different accounts in different languages.

What may come next is making a list of the core Catholic beliefs and studying their origins. In particular I'm curious about the Trinity and Hell/Gehenna?

I suppose if there is an ideal outcome it's not so much that I want to disillusion my mom but dig through the years of murky texts and tradition heaped upon since Jesus' time. I want to think the message is that we are all saved. The job of missionaries is to spread the "Good News" but not necessarily convert people. Anyway thanks for indulging me in whoever reads this and has recommendations. I'm just trying to articulate this and typing it all down helped.

Read this book. It's available free online.

http://hopebeyondhell.net/

It will clear up a lot of stuff

Thanks.

I know it isn't directly related, but I think it would interest you based on some of the stuff you were saying.

Well it's not with total eagerness that I want to be a bible scholar but my Mom just can't drop this. She has a kind of "Catholic Guilt" thing and feels like she has to save us.

So aside from a more accurate study bible I might be interested in any other reference material from people who have already done legwork on this.

In particular I'm very interested in learning from Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong.

Any decent study Bible ought to include a timeline of the books, or at least have the information in each book's introduction. For research purposes, the New Oxford Annotated Bible (Protestant) is good; there's the Orthodox Study Bible (Eastern Orthodox; annotations on the New King James text); also the Ignatius Study Bible (Catholic - New Testament only, to date). You might look up Jewish commentaries on the Old Testament, too.

As for the doctrines - look up the early controversies and Councils. Chalcedon; Nicaea; Ephesus; etc. Some fun reading in there - life certainly wasn't dull back then.

There are "study Bibles" you can buy which include commentaries/explanations alongside the text. The Harper Collins Study Bible is one of the most popular ones (the Scofield reference Bible is also popular, but it is KJV and includes some extremist/fundamentalist theological interpretations). However, I believe it is targeted more at Protestants than at Catholics. I am not familiar enough with Catholicism to make any recommendations specific to learning about Catholic teachings.

I think one of the major differences is Holy Communion. I think many Protestants see it as respectful reenactment while my Catholic Mom says it is Transubstantiation. Or the Bread and Wine really are the flesh and blood of Jesus on Sunday.

Also I think The Holy Trinity is a strong part of Catholicism but I'm not sure you can even find that in the Bible.

I find the International Revised Standard Learning Bible to be useful.

I also have all volumes of the encyclopedic "The Complete Biblical Library", published by:

World Library Press, Inc.
Springfield, Missouri 65804

It features the original Greek and Hebrew, as well as many Aramaic and Latin translations.

I highly recommend it for the serious bible scholar.

Look at commentaries on John for both of those - the 'Bread of Life' discourse in John 6, and all the Trinitarian details dropped along the way in Jesus' running battles with the Pharisees and in His pre-crucifixion discourse to His Apostles. But you can't arrive at the Trinity, as we understand it, based on Scripture alone - look to the early Councils for that one.

Thanks Fnord. I'll try to get a plan together for issues I want to study and address, then check my Library for the International Bible.

I would suggest - as one actively involved in Bible translation and as a compulsive researcher - that you stay awaty from "study Bibles". Some are not bad, but the "study notes" are almost always slanted one way or another.

Find a version IN A FORM OF THE LANGUAGE YOU CAN BE COMFORTABLE WITH [some do not like the archaisms of the King James, others bridle at the harshness of some more contemporary ones], and get a copy with as few notes as possible.

I would also suggest, do not read it for ammunition or in self-defense. You are not likely to convince or be convinced, and if you mother does not get you or is not comfortable with you as you are, timelines are not going to do anything but work up negative feelings. For every expert saying THIS there are two saying THAT and T'OTHER, and study Bible findings you see as supporting you are not that likely to help with her.

I would urge you, simply tell her that you need to seek your own path [note that that need not be the path to any preset goal], remind her about Augustine and his mother Monica [who just prayed for years that her wandering son would see the light, and request politely but firmly that she cut you some slack.

Then, study for yourself or don't - keep walking with your ears and eyes open and your way will find you.

Funny you mentioned that my Mom was just referencing the Augustine story.

But it's a good point I'm trying to be respectful and at least explore religion and see how I feel about it.

I kind of wish I was closer to my Mom's brother(Uncle) who is my Mom's closest sibling in age. He is only vaguely into religion while my mom is super hard core about it. I'm not sure how that came about.

Hey, that happens. Siblings get VERY diverse - you should see [no forget that, you do NOT want to] mine and Herself's. It is probably going to have to do with their mind differences. Is your Mom in areas like housekeeping and manners by any chance a rule-driven ducks in a row person tending toward even if not quite OC? My mother AND her grandmother before her were good Baltimore Germans - from Grandma I learned what discipline meant before I could say it right. Herself's sister-in-law is similar - pure Dutch there.

The good thing about Augustine and Monica is that it opens up years and years where she can in saintly fashion put you in front of God without slamming you.

Mind you, I suspect in real life Augustine in his Manichee days heard more about it from his mommy than he really enjoyed - just from what I have seen of human nature. But that does not get into the saintly stories.

What details? One work that might be more relevant is his writing "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism", as it focuses on the Bible. The other Spong I know of are either more specific on some detail, or they are more focused on his post-theistic theology.

Well I watched some hour long speeches from Spong on YouTube I thought were great. But yeah Spong challenges Fundamentalism and even the doctrine of Hell.

I have also heard mention of a book called The Terrible Texts of the Bible, but the one you referred to sounds good as well.