Reading Through the Bible in 2022

How will I react differently to the words written in Scripture without the constraints of Biblical literalism?

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A lot of people still steeped in conservative theology assume that I hate the Bible, or think every word is pretend and not based in reality, or just cherry pick and ignore parts I don’t like, applying literalism when I like it and ignoring it where I don’t. (Every Christian does this. Every. Single. One.)

To this end, I wonder of the criticism — I do have the Bible app on my phone and read the daily verses occasionally, but its been a while since I’ve delved deeply into it. So I thought, for a fun 2022 project, I would begin rereading the Bible and analyzing it from a personal and progressive perspective. Note: I am not a theologian, I do not have an M.Div.

Here are the notes:

• I’m going to read it in order, rather than ascribe to any of those “read the Bible in a year” plans. Genesis to Revelation. That’s the easiest way for me and the way I read the whole Bible in the past.

• My version will be the massive New Oxford Annotated Bible that I got while at Lee University, so that I can have access to historical and reputable annotations about the content itself while reading it. I want to be educated about the meanings, the sources, the language.

  • However, I’ll be ignoring the Apocrypha which is included in that version. I’m not Catholic and I never have been, so I’m not sure I would have the best takes on those books, even though they’re pretty good stories!

• I probably won’t write many posts other than this for 2022, so as not to spam your lovely inboxes.

• We are keeping this Substack FREE. However, in light of some financial concerns (mainly the fact that my dog needs a $5000 surgery!) I will include some ways to financially contribute to my work and study, which does take up a lot of my time, if you are inclined — but I am not impoverished or desperate. So no pressure!

  • PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/notreallyjcm

  • CashApp: $jennifercmartin

  • Venmo: @jennifercmartin

  • Baking-Themed OnlyFans: https://onlyfans.com/notreallyjcm

I hope to have a post up every single week, reviewing what I’ve read that week and relating it to whatever I have going on in my life or whatever I’m worried about in the world at the moment. There are 66 books of the Bible, so I’ll list my purported schedule below. This is an introduction post, so this weekend I’ll have the first Genesis post up and going forward I hope to have these up on Wednesday. Here’s my schedule — 52 posts, 52 weeks. I’m excited to dig into the Bible with a fresh new, non-literalist perspective.

1. Genesis

2. Exodus

3. Leviticus

4. Numbers

5. Deuteronomy

6. Joshua

7. Judges

8. Ruth

9. 1 Samuel & 2 Samuel

10. 1 Kings & 2 Kings

11. 1 Chronicles & 2 Chronicles

12. Ezra

13. Nehemiah

14. Esther

15. Job

16. Psalms

17. Proverbs

18. Ecclesiastes

19. Song of Solomon

20. Isaiah

21. Jeremiah

22. Lamentations

23. Ezekiel

24. Daniel

25. Hosea

26. Joel

27. Amos & Obadiah

28. Jonah

29. Micah & Nahum

30. Habakkuk & Zephaniah

31. Haggai

32. Zechariah

33. Malachi

34. Matthew

35. Mark

36. Luke

37. John

38. Acts

39. Romans

40. 1 Corinthians & 2 Corinthians

41. Galatians

42. Ephesians

43. Philippians

44. Colossians

45. 1 Thessalonians & 2 Thessalonians

46. 1 Timothy & 2 Timothy

47. Titus & Philemon

48. Hebrews

49. James

50. 1 Peter & 2 Peter

51. 1 John, 2 John, 3 John

52. Jude & Revelation