The Smith Class

Teacher: Clifton Karnes (e-mail me at clif [at] karnesdesign [dot] com)
When: 10:00 a.m., September through May
Where: Room 120 on the lower level

Are you looking for a place where you can engage both your mind and your heart? Where studying the Scriptures is an open search, not a closed book? Then come join us in the Smith Class. The Smith Class is an adult Bible study class that uses the Lectionary, which is simply a list of Bible readings for each Sunday in the year following the church calendar. We discuss each Sunday's Bible readings with a focus on both the text's historical background and what the Scripture passages can mean to us in our lives today. In the Smith Class, we don't have all the answers, but we always learn from each other.

The Smith Class (which is named in honor of long-time teacher Winnie Smith) meets Sunday mornings from 10:00 to 10:50 in the Smith Classroom, which is in the church's lower level across from room 121. The class traditionally meets from September through May. Visitors are always welcome. Below are some online Lectionary and Bible study resources.

Lectionary Texts

• United Church of Christ Lectionary Texts
  Lectionary readings hosted by the United Church of Christ (use the drop-down list at the top of the page to access the readings). Each day's reading also includes commentary and other useful material. The site lists readings for each church season (roughly). To view Lectionary texts for the entire year (or beyond), see the Vanderbilt Lectionary Site below.
• Revised Common Lectionary from the Vanderbilt Divinity Library
  The Vanderbilt Lectionary Site hosts all the readings for the Lectionary's entire three-year cycle. In the site's own words, "The online Revised Common Lectionary is a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, a division of the Jean and Alexander Heard Library of Vanderbilt University. Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible."
• The Consultation on Common Texts
  The Consultation on Common Texts (CCT) is the body that produces the Lectionary readings for each Sunday. In the CCT's own words, it is "an ecumenical consultation of liturgical scholars and denominational representatives from the United States and Canada, who produce liturgical texts for use in common by North American Christian Churches. A noted work of the CCT is the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). The CCT meets biannually in New York on the campus of the General Theological Seminary."

Lectionary Commentaries

• The Text This Week
  Jenee Woodard's The Text This Week is a huge compilation of Lectionary resources. (Click on the link directly below the date to access the Lectionary resources for that date.) In her own words, "this site features a wide variety of resources for study and liturgy based on the 3-year Revised Common Lectionary cycle. I am intentionally including a diverse variety of resources for scripture study, reflection and liturgy, and purposefully not restricting the resources to any particular theological/ideological position, including my own."
• Seasons of the Spirit
  Seasons of the Spirit is the Web site for the curriculum we use in the Smith Class. There are many study resources here, but one of the most useful is "Spirit Sightings," which relates contemporary news stories to each week's Lectionary reading.

Bible Translations

• Christianity.com
  Full-featured study site with many Bible translations (NRSV, KJV, NIV, TNIV and many, many more), reference tools, and more. Many of the study tools listed under "Bible Study Tools" below are from Christianity.com
• BibleGateway.com
  Another site with Bibles and reference tools, but what makes BibleGateway special is the selection of audio Bibles.
• Ken Collins' Survey of English Bible Translations
  Ken Collins is a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) pastor, and his Web site has lots of interesting and extremely useful Bible study aids. One really outstanding section on his site is his guide to English Bible translations, which contains a very inclusive list of translations with pros and cons of each. This is a great introduction to the history of the Bible in English and a terrific place to start if you're looking for a new Bible translation.
• Bible Basics - Pronunciation
  This site features both a pronunciation guide and audio files for Bible names and places. (You'll find the alphabetical index to the pronunciation guide at the bottom of the page.) With the audio files, you can actually hear the pronunciation of names from Artaxerxes to Zerubbabel.

Bible Study Tools

• Greek and Hebrew Fonts
  To be able to see the Greek and Hebrew characters for some of the tools below, you'll need to download and install the BST fonts, which are available free from this page.
• NET Bible (Study Bible)
  The NET Bible is a modern scholarly translation with more than 60,000 footnotes. You'll also find study tools at the NET Bible site.
• The Literary Study Bible - ESV (Study Bible)
  The Literary Study Bible (ESV) focuses on literary forms in the Bible. The site has a $9.99 registration fee, but you can try the Bible for a month for free.
• New American Standard Bible (NASB) with Strong's Numbers (Study Bible)
  The NASB is a very literal tranlation and the Strong's numbers (or Strong's links in this web-based version) let you easily find the Hebrew or Greek words behind the English translation.
• Nave's Topical Bible (Concordance)
  Nave's Topical Concordance lists the important topics in the Bible (such as "love," "salvation," and so on) and the key verses where these topics are discussed. Browsing Nave's often works better than searching.
• Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Cross Reference)
  The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge is a huge cross-reference. You choose a book, chapter, and verse and you'll see links to other Bible verses that are related to the target verse.
• Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament (Commentary on Greek)
  Robertson's Word Pictures is a commentary on the Greek language used in New Testament, but you'll find general commentary too.
• New Testament Greek Lexicon (Greek Lexicon)
  A New Testament English-Greek dictionary. Type in a Greek transliteration or English word and search.
• Bible Maps
  Superior collection of maps from the NET Bible site.