Suddenlyspectral - A Suburban Night Terror

Hello! I was wondering if you know an edition of the Bible that is annotated/ contains discussions of the context of the different books and chapters or a supplement that does the same? Something that would have explanations for the different symbols, the references the different NT books make to OT books and such. We studied the Bible this way in literature class and I miss it as I've honestly learnt more about the Bible in literature class than in religious studies. Thank you!

Hiya, sorry for the delay in responding! It’s super hard to read the Bible without good commentary explaining the context, so good on you for seeking that out. 

The study Bible I recommend most strongly for the “average person” (aka, you’re not a religious studies major or seminarian) is the Common English Study Bible. 

All my other study Bibles are made more for seminarians and thus the language is a little more “jargony” and made for a higher reading level, while this study Bible does its best to be accessible to people of all education levels. 

The CEB translation was created by a collaboration of several denominations, so that’s also cool!

Some stuff it contains along with book introductions, outlines, and footnotes:

Over 200 illustrations, maps, and charts

Lots of cross references (e.g. it’ll tell you if another part of the Bible sounds real similar to the part you’re reading)

Some pages have lil green squares that define words, explore theological themes, examine problematic passages, etc. For example, there’s a section on “Family conflict in Genesis” and another on “God’s Kingdom.”

Near the end there are some easy-to-read essays on “The Authority of Scripture,” “The Bible’s Unity,” “How We Got the Bible,” and “Guidelines for Reading the Bible” – these essays are such a great place for the average Bible reader to start considering questions of “inerrancy” and “inspiration,” cultural context and canon. 

Finally, select concordance at the back that lets you search for a topic, name, or theme

The study Bible I personally use most often is the New Interpreter’s Study Bible, just because it’s the one my seminary classes required. 

It’s got similar content to the CEB study Bible but written in less accessible language – if you’re interested, I think you’d still get a lot of use out of it, but might have to google stuff if a footnote throws words like “soteriology” and “theodicy” and “eschatology” at you and you don’t know wtf they’re talking about. 

The same goes for the Catholic Study Bible, second edition – 

of these three options, it has the most commentary and tons of essays on who wrote the biblical books and when and why and all that stuff, but the language is super duper scholarly. 

So if that’s not your style, don’t get this one; if it is your style and you wanna just have a whole avalanche of commentary, then do get this one!

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So yeah, if nothing else, get yourself a study Bible like one of the three I describe above. They can be pricy, which is why I linked to them on amazon – I know amazon is Evil and Bad but dang are Bibles expensive, and so getting a used copy is many people’s only option. 

But if you do have enough money or access to a library with good Bible books, you can also consider the following resources…

If there is a specific book of the Bible you really wanna dig into, commentaries are great! 

A standard commentary will provide cultural context for the biblical book and tell you what scholars know about who wrote it and when and why; it’ll explain symbols and delve into theology and how the book is applied today…The issue is, commentaries are usually expensive.  

If you live in a large-ish city, it’s very possible that there’s a seminary somewhere near you where you can explore commentaries to your heart’s content! You can probably enlist a librarian’s help in finding just what you’re looking for, too. 

Two series of commentaries that I recommend are Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (mostly accessible language but still uses some jargon you might have to look up) and the Anchor Bible series (an older series so more scholarly and occasionally sorta outdated but still pretty good). 

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Now let’s talk about some free resources you might find useful, because golly do I wish biblical materials were all free so everyone could access them…

Working Preacher is a site that a lot of progressive-leaning pastors reference when crafting weekly sermons. It’s not gonna give you a super detailed account of the cultural context of a Bible chapter or too much about who wrote it, but if you want to reflect on applications for today, this is a great place to start! There’s a scripture index so you can look up whatever book and chapter you’re interested in and see if anyone’s written a little article about it. 

So I don’t personally agree with all the theology shared in the Lumina Bible, but it’s a great resource for the average Bible reader who doesn’t know Hebrew or Greek to get some help figuring out what the original language said. There’s often a lot of good cultural context stuff too! So yeah, that’s my recommendation for an online Bible with quality footnotes.

The Bible Project is such a cool resource, with timelines and posters and videos for each book of the Bible that offer a really easy to understand, well-organized overview of that book. I don’t personally agree with all their theology either, but if I want to jog my memory about what a certain book of the Bible is about and the context surrounding it – when it was written and why, what the main themes are, etc. – I hop on over to YouTube and watch the Bible Project’s short video on that book. So helpful, and entertaining too. 

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I hope this helps; let me know if you have questions!

Does anyone else have a study Bible or other good resources they’d recommend for anon?

Webcomics w/ Black Leads

I was wondering how many webcomics there were out there with black protagonists (for my own reference). Then I figured plenty of other folks would love to see a list. So heeeeere we go! (Please reblog and add more!) 

AGENTS OF THE REALM by Mildred Louis

NIBI by Gyimah Gariba

DEMON STREET by Aliza Layne

VIBE by Dan Ciurczak

BALDERDASH by Victoria Goog

STAR TRIP by Gisele Jobateh

SCHOOL SPIRIT (FRESH ROMANCE) by Kate Leth & Arielle Jovellanos

ALL OUR CUTS AND BRUISES by My Sjögren Blücher

STEVE’S STORY (KHAOS KOMICS) by Tab Kimpton

DEMON HUNTER KAIN by Burrell Gill Jr.

SAFE HAVENS by Bill Holbrook

THE SUBSTITUTES by Myisha Haynes

VALOROUS TALES by Dashawn Mahone

M.F.K. by Nilah Magruder

THE IMMORTAL NADIA GREENE by Jamal Campbell

PRINCESS LOVE PON by Shauna J. Grant

AS THE CROW FLIES by Melanie Gillman

do you have any recommendations for christmas/advent hymns?

I have a Spotify playlist full of my favorites

Ideas for Lent

100 Things to Do for Lent  (printable list) You probably know that the three pillars of Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Did you know that you’re supposed to do all three? Did you know that you can do more than one thing in each category? - Meg Hunter-Kilmer

My favorite thing to do for Lent - Daily intercession for others Write the name of one family member, friend, coworker, neighbor, acquaintance, or someone I’m not too fond of on one of the 40 days of Lent. When that day arrives, I offer my prayers and petitions, frustrations, joys, and sufferings for the person’s intentions. - Katie Warner

66 Things to Give Up or Take Up for Lent (Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced) Through my various Lenten fails over the years, I’ve learned a different way of approaching Lent….We make it a time, not of suffering (necessarily) but rather of increased focus on God and others and decreased focus on self and personal comfort. - Catholic All Year

8 Reasons to Turn Out the Lights During Lent   The impact it had on our lives was more powerful than I could have imagined. - Jennifer Fulwiler

The 5-Minute Sacrifice for Lent   Instead of giving up one impossibly difficult thing for 40 days, I give up myriads of small things every day, for 5 minutes at a time.

The 7 Penitential Psalms to be prayed during Lent

Pray the Litany of Humility

Pray “Universal Prayer” in Slow Motion Meditate on particular line for each of 40 days. I have often thought that the second greatest prayer ever written is the Universal Prayer attributed to Pope Clement XI. - Msgr. Charles Pope 

Common Reasons for Failure in Lent:

Expectations and reality: You will struggle – expect it and you won’t be as frustrated when you do.

Lack of firm commitments: When you struggle, don’t give up – get up and work on it again.

Lack of clear commitments: Our Lenten commitments should be clear. That means that if we succeed or fail we know it and thus there is no ambiguity.

Lack of accountability and Community: Those with accountability partners to pray and encourage them will be far more successful than those who work on these disciplines alone. We should also take our failures to confession for forgiveness and strength to continue to fight.

someone recommend me some good fantasy books that aren’t centred on a war, please, my crops are dying