Friday Five The Bible (is a Book Written by People)

When I read this Friday Five, I thought, Oh no, because, although I've read the bible, I've not studied it, and it's been a long time. Most recently I've been in closer contact with the Torah or the Old Testament, so... rather than just skip it, I'll show my extreme ignorence

1. What is your earliest memory of encountering a biblical text?
In my 12 years of Catholic School where we mostly learned from text books and the Baltimore Cathechism. (OK, I just remembered. At confirmation, which in my day was quite young, like 2nd grade, we got a missal-In my case a St. Joseph Missal, which had bible readings for the time of year, so I guess that was the Catholic way of parceling out the bible.)

2. What is your favorite biblical translation, and why? (You might have a few for different purposes). No favorite, although we always used the Catholic Bible whichever that was at the time. The Torah used by Congregation Bethe Simchat Torah has seemed awfully nice.

3. What is your favorite book of the Bible? Your favorite verse/passage? Would Ruth be appropriate?

4. Which book of the Bible do you consider, in Luther's famous words about James, to be "an epistle of straw?" Which verse(s) make you want to scream? n/a

5. Inclusive language in biblical translation and liturgical proclamation: for, against, or neutral? Absolutley for it!

Bonus: Back to the Psalms--which one best speaks the prayer of your heart? Not a psalm but a fragment "For whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou dwellest, there I will dwell: thy people are my people, and thy God is my God." which appears in our Ketubah or marriage contract (from my beloved and I.)