Bible Studies and Resources for Group Discussion

Below are some resources developed for use with a small group (a subset of whom is pictured here and here) and in adult Sunday school at Rochester Christian Reformed Church. 

This small group, informally known as the Holy Huddle, also has a blog. (With new posts!) Here's the history behind this effort.

Feel free to contact me with any feedback:

 Tim's Email Address

Tim Collins, Rochester, New York

© Copyright reserved by Tim Collins. Documents of my authorship linked to on this page may be freely distributed, but please attach this authorship and copyright notice . 

Topics:

The Sermon on the Mount
Poverty and Money
1 and 2 Peter: Life in Ancient Rome
Science & Faith
The Holy Spirit
A few good sermons & lectures
Barbara Brown Taylor's The Preaching Life
Christmas
Adoption
Resources for Exegesis
Election
Heresies
Parables
1 John
Paul's race, start and finish: 1 Thessalonians and 2 Timothy
Ecclesiastes
John
Mark
Judges
Other studies and resources

Visit the blog!

The Sermon on the Mount

Here are Parts One and Two of a presentation on the Sermon.

Here are discussion questions:
The Beatitudes, parts one and two.
Finishing the beatitudes; salt & light; Jesus and the Law.
The "antitheses".

A sermon by Stanley Hauerwas on the Sermon from a community-based, Mennonite perspective.

Poverty 

Here are excerpts and discussion questions from Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship, with an addendum.

Here are the very relevant questions 110 and 111 of the Heidelberg Catechism, with commentary. (Thanks, Dave!)

Here is a sermon by John Welsey, "On the Use of Money", excerpted from Ben Witherington III's Jesus and Money. Oh, and discussion questions.

This paper by Klyne Snodgrass is a useful recourse, as it lists all the major gospel passages related to money.

Here's a paper by Craig Blomberg: "On Wealth and Worry: Matthew 6:19-34--Meaning and Significance".

What was the economic status of the disciples and the early church?
Sider: The early church had a disproportionate number of poor (see p. 80, second full par.)
Schneider: Early congregations in the empire 'generally reflected a fair cross-section of urban society'" (134). While the majority of those who came to hear Jesus were destitute, Jesus and his closest followers "came mainly from a social and economic background similar to his own--that is, from the middle class of their day" (136). "[Jesus] led relatively privileged people into new lives of economic redemption... [as he] pulled them out of their safe worlds.. [and] placed them in contact with the very soul of the suffering world..." (138)
Blomberg: Jesus and some of his disciples were skilled workers and thus may have been better off than many; while itinerant during Jesus' ministry, "there's no indication they have sold or permanently abandoned what material resources they had at home" (108). Wealthy women helped support them in their ministry (Lk 8:1-3).
Stark:  Early Christianity was based in the privileged classes (see p. 33, end of section)
Bonhoeffer: "Now they are living in want and privation, the poorest of the poor, the sorest afflicted, and the hungriest of the hungry" (Cost of Discipleship, p. 118)

Here is a relevant sermon by Bob Hann on the occasion of the Feast of Epiphany.  

Practical guidelines from Sider (pp. 191-4) on living simply.
Mary's to-do list for Rich Christians.

Here is a book review from Christian Century, of Schneider's book, among others. Like all good book reviews, it contains some worthwhile thinking of its own. Here is an interesting article on the related topic of how churches get their members to give monetarily.

Here are pages 187-190 of Sider, where he discusses the graduated tithe.  (Arbutus Sider? "Arbutus is a genus of at least 14 species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to warm temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, and North America" -wikipedia.)

This is a paper by John Schneider which explores in less space the themes in his book, The Good of Affluence.

For those who missed it, here are Andy's questions from the Nov 18, 2011 HH meeting.

Here are the first two chapters of Ron Sider's book. Here's the third. Here is the fifth chapter of John R. Schneider's The Good of Affluence, and discussion questions by Andy and me on that chapter.

Here is chapter 5 of Sider.

1 and 2 Peter: Life in Ancient Rome

Here is a lecture on the Roman cultural and physical setting of the first-century church.
This is an introductory chapter from Philip Payne's Man and Woman: One in Christ (Zondervan), which talks about the cultural attitudes toward women. Starting on p. 35 is an especially interesting section on Gamaliel, Paul's teacher.
Here is some background material on 1 Peter.
And here is a chapter from Timothy Tennent's Theology in the Context of World Christianity, on the subject of  honor & shame in first-century culture and the Bible. Here are two other excepts on honor and shame: one on particularly focusing on 1 Peter, and one more general introduction.
1 Peter contains a household code which prescribes relationships between  husbands, wives, slaves, masters, old and young. Here is a handout comparing Aristotle's, Peter's and Paul's household codes. Here is an article about the household code in Ephesians, which has some good background on the topic.
And here is a really interesting article by Miroslav Volf on 1 Peter's paradigm for cultural engagement.
Here is a nifty little article by Calvin Stapert on Bach's St. John Passion and Christus Victor atonement theology.
Some good blog entries: honor and shame in Paul; Jesus' descent into hell... or the dead.

Here, then, are the eight studies in 1 Peter:
1: An introduction to 1 Peter
2: 1:22-2:25: an introduction to honor & shame in 1 Peter
3: 2:11-3:12: household codes and other topics
4: 3:8-4:19: paraenesis, use of the OT, spirits in prison, etc.
5: 4: deeper into the household code; "be serious and disciplined"
6: rewriting the social code
7: suffering; Christus Victor; preaching to the dead again; spiritual warfare
8: interacting with the world; the Suffering Servant; timelines of redemption

Background on second Peter.
Questions on 2 Peter, part 1 (on 1:1-15).  And part 2 (on 1:16-2:10a). Unfortunately,  these questions don't address all of 2 Peter, just through 2:10.
In 1 Peter 1 there is a "ladder of virtues" which, in hellenized language, gives a nutshell of the Christian ethical standard. A good point of comparison is Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Books II-IV discuss the moral/ethical virtues. To those virtues we'd want to add Justice (discussed in book V), and the "virtues of thought" (aka "intellectual virtues") discussed in Book VI: practical wisdom (aka Prudence), intelligence (insight into 1st  principles), scientific understanding, and wisdom. (Thanks to my friend Tim O'Keefe for this great background material!)
Here's a devotional from D. A. Carson on 2 Peter 2:1-3.

For lack of a better place, here is an article by Craig Keener on demon possession now and then.

Science & Faith 

Here is a lecture on my experience of the interation of science & faith, given at Trinity Reformed Church, 4/18/2010, as part of their Christians at Work series.  I also made up some discussion questions based on the talk.
The talk is better if you watch, when indicated, some video clips:
a segment of the show Big Bang Theory on the topic of string theory,
the trailer from the movie Angels and Demons,
a movie of my simulation of a shock wave propagating through a clumpy medium, and the acceleration phase and deceleration phase of a NIF-scale ICF implosion.

Some other resources related to various aspects of science & faith:

The Holy Spirit

Here are two excerpts on tongues and prophecy from D. A. Carson's Showing the Spirit: first, on 14:1-5 and tongues v. prophecy; second, on tongues itself, such as whether there are two types ("prophetic" v. "prayer language"). Very helpful.
Here is a very small, informal survey of some who speak in tongues, and a few who have had nonzero interaction with the charismatic community.

Here are some questions touching on the Holy Spirit in Acts and 1 Corinthians 12-14: Part 1 (baptism in the Holy Spirit, the history of the gifts, glossolalia), Part 2 (prophecy, being filled with the Holy Spirit, the charismatic tradition, close moments).

Here is a lecture giving an overview of the Holy Spirit (if such a thing is possible).  

Here is a section from Michael Green's excellent Evangelism in the Early Church, talking about aspects of the lives of the early church members and evangelists. It points to the ways the fruit of the Spirit were visible in those communities.

Here is a characteristically good article by Raymond Brown: "Diverse Views of the Spirit in the New Testament" (Worship, 57 no 3 May 1983, p. 225-23), which provided the core of the above HS overview.

Here is a nicely balanced and insightful chapter on the Holy Spirit in Acts from Michael Green's lay-commentary Thirty Years That Changed the World. 

Here is an interesting letter by John Wesley in which he mentions the idea of sudden, complete sanctification. It's in the context of complaining that old preachers are seldom good. [The Letters of the Rev. John Wesley, ed. John Telford (London: Epworth, 1931), vol. 7, p. 222. Referred to in Milard Erickson's Christian Theology, p. 869, fn. 27.]

Speaking of old letters, here's a brief article from the Gordon-Conwell student newspaper back in the 70s talking about a little-known letter from Calvin to Beza in which Calvin says that sometimes, during prayer, he finds himself speaking in an unknown tongue [Quent Warford, “Calvin Speaks Unknown Tongue,” The Paper: Student Paper of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary 1.6 (March 24, 1975): 6]. (See this blog entry by the G-C librarian and this one by Ben Witherington.) 

Part of understanding of the Holy Spirit involves learning discernment. This teaching by Dennis McCallum provides some good pointers based on Scripture and experience.

Here are questions on Romans 6-8, part 1, along with an accompanying ~3-min. audio clip from a teaching by Dennis McCallum. Also, since we are jumping into the middle of Romans, here is a little background on the book. Here are questions on Romans 6-8, part 2.

Here are questions on the Spirit in the life of the believer, as understood from Ephesians. Also, a handout with background on Ephesians.

Exceptional Audio Files of Lectures, Sermons, &c.

Here is an excellent lecture by D. A. Carson on elders, from the 9 Marks web site. And while we're on Carson, here are two interviews of him by Mark Dever (same source): An enjoyable discussion of his many books, and his observations of evangelicalism.

Jim Van Tholen, "What's a Deacon For?", a sermon on Eph 4:1-16; 1/9/2000.

Barbara Brown Taylor's The Preaching Life

Here are discussion questions on Barbara Brown Taylor's The Preaching Life:  Chapter "A Church in Ruins" (1), "Call" (2), "Vocation" (3), "Imagination" (4), "Bible" (5), "Worship" (6), "Preaching" (7), and the sermons: "Do Love", "The Fourth Watch", "I Am Who I Am", "The Tenth Leper", "The Opposite of Rich" (on the rich young ruler), "The One To Watch" (and here's a great article on the Widow's Mite), "Knowing Glances" (on the Sheep and the Goats), "The Voice of the Shepherd" (on John 10 and the parable of the Good Shepherd), "The Lost and Found Department" (on the parables of the lost sheep and coin), ...

Isaiah

Here is a presentation giving an overview of Isaiah, and  questions on chapter 1.
Here are questions on chapters 2-5, plus a handout with some suggestions for how to read Isaiah.
Here are questions on chapters 6-12, and a handout on the way the NT reads the OT.
Here are questions on chapters 24-27. (Chs. 13-23 left as an "exercise for the reader".)
Here are questions on chs. 28-35 (in two parts).
Here are questions on chs. 36-39.
Here are two sermons on Isaiah 43:
"The God of Newness" by John N. Oswalt
"For Your Sake, For My Sake" by Cornelius Plantinga
Here are questions on chs. 40-48.
Here is a nice teaching on the servant songs by Xenos Christian Fellowship pastor Gary DeLashmutt. And here's an intriguing essay by pastor Dennis McCallum discussing why the "suffering servant" and "conquering king" messianic prophecies in the OT are mixed together in such an opaque way. 
Here are questions on chapter 49 and the second Servant Song.
Here are questions on chs. 50-55, and all four Servant Songs: part 1, part 2.
Here is abrief  handount describing the pre-Christian intepretations of the Suffering Servant.
And finally: questions on Isaiah 56-66.

Sermons and Meditations for Advent and Christmas

By Jim Van Tholen:  No Christmas in Jerusalem and Meditation
By Tom Wright: Power to Become Children, The Shepherds at Midnight, Full of Grace and Truth, What is This Word?
Also from Durham Cathedral, Juli suggests comparing these two sermons: Values for Advent--Contentment (Michael Sadgrove) and Emperors and Angels (Tom Wright)
 Holy Instincts by Barbara Brown Taylor
A Christmas Reflection by Mary Ann Templeton [I admit this borders on simplicity-worship, but I really appreciate the insight. (Are there any messy Amish?)]
A Sermon by C. H. Spurgeon
About Christmas by Sue Collins--an excellent teaching giving background and orientation on the event.
Why a Manger by Dave Boris
A poem: What we heard on Christmas Day by Julie Moore
What Christmas Means to Me by C. S. Lewis (warning: sarcasm). Here are more Lewis quotes on Christmas
Plus: Some interesting ruminations on the virgin birth, by New Testament scholar Ben Witherington
Two very brief but thoughtful Advent reflections by Lauren Winner
At history of several favorite traditional hymns, by Stuart Collins, Jr.
 Essays on Adoption

You may be surprised by how many excellent writers have adopted.
Here is a great Christianity Today article by Walter Wangerin called A Stranger in Joseph's House.
Here is a must-read by Miroslav Volf called She Who Truly Loves, and another, The Gift of Infertility.
Gilbert Meilaender, renowned ethicist, wrote six open letters in Christian Century to his adoped son, as his son was leaving for college:
Gifts and Achievements, Living into Commitments, Moment-ousness, Silence, Being Adopted and Adoptees One and All. Check out especially Living...
Some Resources for Exegesis

Here is a handy list of common hermeneutical errors (with examples!) from Douglas Stuart's book Old Testament Exegesis (Westminster John Knox, 2001). And here is a great, brief guide to biblical hermeneutics with some excellent examples, by Ben Witherington (from his blog).

 You may find useful this outline of Fee's short guide to sermon exegesis (and as a Word doc).

This is more on hermeneutics: an essay by Michael Green on an evangelical understanding of the various forms of NT criticism. It may be slightly out of date, but provides an excellent balance.

Looking for a place to start when studying a passage? Here are some questions to use in inductive bible study, grouped by literature type.
Understanding Our Election in Terms of Jesus'

Here is a fascinating and enjoyable article by Bob Hann (Prof. CRCDS and retired Presyterian minister), called "Election, the humanity of Jesus, and possible worlds." (This link points to the revised version--the one to read for the May 23rd 2008 small-group meeting.) It's one of the most thought-provoking discussions of predestination you will read. (Journal of the Evan. Theol. Soc. 29, 295, 1986.) Here's a lucid, contrasting discussion of election by Ben Witherington.
Heresies, Adversaries and Biblical Priorities

Here is an article by Craig Blomberg which I found interesting: "The New Testament Definition of Heresy (Or When do Jesus and the Apostles Really Get Mad?)" (Journal of the Evan. Theol. Soc. 45, 59, 2002). Here are discussion questions on the article, as well as a chart of NT heresies and adversaries, which may save you from some of the drier parts of the article.

Gnosticism was the first major heresy which the early church was forced to resist and refute. A central tenet of it was docetism: the belief that Jesus only seemed human, but was really not tainted by the flesh. Modern bible-believing Christians often find it challenging to know how much humanity to allow Jesus. Here's thought-provoking and brief article on Jesus' humanity and the inspiration of scritpture:  "The Heresy of Infallibility", Word and World, 26, 355 (2006).
Parable-Related

 Here is a presentation giving an introduction to the parables of Jesus. Good background if you want a refresher.
A chart summarizing Jesus' parables, and discussion questions comparing the theology of Jesus' parables to that in Paul's epistles.
A humorous collection of parables rewritten in an  academic context by Deb and Loren Haarsma. Very funny!
An article by T. F. Torrance giving a Reformed theology of the role of parables in epistemology (18 Mb). Really fun, actually! And discussion questions on the article.
Here is the short story Hunters in the Snow by Tobias Wolff, and discussion questions on the story by Susan M. Gilbert-Collins.
A sermon on Mt 20:1-16, the parable of the landowner, by Barbara Brown Taylor.
Discussion questions on right- and left-handed power based on Robert Capon's Parables of the Kingdom.
Parables of Judgment

Resources related to the parables of judgment, found in Mt 24-25 and elsewhere:
 
The parables of Lazarus and Dives, and the Unmerciful Servant; makes reference to a brief sermon by Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the unmerciful servant (Mt 18:21-35; thanks to Ed Hull for sharing this gem).
The parable of the Murderous Tenants.  Here are lecture slides on the Wicked Tenants. I believe they make the case that the cleansing of the Temple is about much more than corrupt money changers.
The parable of the Unjust Steward.  Here is a thought-provoking sermon on the parable of the unjust steward (Lk 16:1-9): Thomas G. Long, "Making Friends", Journal for Preachers, 30, 52-57, 2007.
The parables of the Great Supper and the Wedding Feast.
The "parable" of the Sheep and the Goats.
The parables of the Talents and the Minas, as well as a handout giving various meanings ascribed to the Talents through the ages.
Parables of the Thief in the Night, the Faithful and Unfaithful Stewards, and the Ten Maidens
Here is a handout on the Olivet Discourse, which is the context for these parables.
Parables of Grace

Here are resources related to the parables of grace primarily found in Luke:
Parable of the Good Samaritan
Parable of the Friend at Midnight
Parables of the Widow and the Unjust Judge; and the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
[And here is a handout on Pharisees]
Parables of the Lost Sheep, Coin and (prodigal) Son
Parables of the Kingdom

Here are some resources related to our study of the parables of the kingdom (in Mt 13 and Mk 4):
Background on parables
A brief and readable history of the study of parables by a Bethel Seminary prof., in the Luther Seminary journal Word & World.
Parable of the sower
Parable of the weeds
Parables of the mustard seed and the leaven and the growing seed
Parables of the pearl and the hidden treasure
1 John

Here  is a five-week series on 1 Jn: one, two, three, four ("student" version), five ("student" version).
Background on the Gospel of John: The abbreviated version with discussion questions, and the full version with gory detail.
Here is an associated handout on Gregory of Nazianzus' quote, "that which was not assumed was not healed".
Here is a handout on the love-hate relationship with the World in the gospel of John and 1 John.
Here is a handout on what the Didache has to say about prophets.
Paul's race, start and finish:
1 Thessalonians and 2 Timothy
[I am aware of the arguments against Pauline authorship for 2 Tim.  (a) Even if this is written by a disciple of Paul, it still speaks about what does and doesn't change from the inception of the written record of Paul's ministry to its end; (b) I am largely persuaded by Oden's argument in favor of Pauline authorship.]

A reading by Raymond Brown on the strengths and weakenesses of the strategy Paul chose in the pastoral letters (1 Tim, 2 Tim, Titus) for the survival of the second-generation Aegean Church in the face of heresy from within.
Discussion questions on 2 Tim: one, two, three (and "student version"; week three also discusses the article "What American Teenagers Believe", with link below).
Discussion questions on 1 Thessalonians: here and here and here.
Ecclesiastes

Intro and chapter 1; chs 6-7; chs 10-12, which includes a description of the wisdom literature's definition of wisdom. (And here is a a chart from Kaiser on the symbolism in ch 11).  Here is an interesting chart from a paper referenced in the New Jerome Commentary which outlines the structure of the book, which has the fascinating implication that the book as a whole was not redacted. 
John

Introduction, chapter one (*), two, three, five (*), six (*), nine, ten (*), eleven and twelve, thirteen, fifteen, twenty. (Asterices refer to versions without leaders' notes.) Plus, a chart of messianic prophecies from Zechariah.
Here is Ben Witherington's very interesting argument that Lazarus is actually the beloved disciple.
Mark

Chapter one, one part 2*, two*,  three, five, six, seven, eight*, nine*,  nine & ten, ten*, eleven and twelve*,  thirteen, fourteen,  fourteen part 2*, fifteen, sixteen*. (Files marked with an asterisk were made by Jenny Douglas.)
Judges

Introduction, Samson, Micah et al., Gideon, Deborah (courtesy Barbara Hull).
Other studies and resources

Discussion questions on the essay The Gospel as Prisoner and Liberator of Culture by Andrew Walls (which can be found in the collection The Missionary Movement in Christian History). Great article.

A Wired article from Andy Elliot on the new atheism movement. It's about 4 Mb, and note before you print it out that there are some pages which are mostly black, which you may wantnot want to print.

Here is a useful chart from Xenos.org regarding the Mosaic law and its relevance for modern Christians.

Here is a copy of the Compline service from the Book of Common Prayer, with Daily Family Devotions thrown in as a bonus. 

Interested in the "new perspective" on Paul? Want to know what  the big noise is about? Want to distinguish covenantal v. variegated nomism? Sure you do! Here's a Christianity Today article on the topic from Aug 2007, and here is a blog entry by Ben Witherington (click "show original post"), critiquing it (or go here and page down to Mar 8).

Here is an excerpt from IVP's The New Bible Commentary  on the documentary hypothesis--the source criticism of the Pentateuch. This gives an overview and asks questions a shy conservative reader would want addressed. For a thorough and readable treatment of the canonical theory, see Who Wrote the Bible by Richard E. Friedman.

Emily has graciously agreed to lead a discussion on a sermon by N. T. Wright, "The God Who Raises the Dead", from his book Following Jesus (Eerdmans, 1994).
A sermon by Lewis Smedes on promises, and discussion questions.
Here is an article, "What American Teenagers Believe", from Books & Culture.
Discussion questions on Gender, Sexuality and the Trinity by J. B. Torrance.
Discussion questions  and background material on the Trinity.
Discussion questions on a selection from Dallas Willard's Spirit of the Disciplines.
Discussion questions on the New Yorker article As Good As Dead about brain death and associated ethical issues.
Discussion questions on the blessings and curses of Deut 28.
From the distant past: The Rochester Studies are a set of bible study discussion questions used in a non-denominational bible study in Rochester, New York. The I launched the group in 1994, which included David and Linda Boris, Andrew and Christi Markiel, Eliza Stefaniw, Dean Johnson, Jodi Quam-Johnson, Anthony Perez-Miller, Rebecca, Paula and Marshall Henry, Candice Bacon, George and Sue Fisher, Ed and Barbara Hull, Laura Toepfer, and others. David Boris co-led the group for many years, and I benefitted tremendously from working with him.
Ruth, I Peter, Judges, Parables, Philippians, Revelation, Romans, Habakkuk, Hebrews, Acts of the Apostles (partial)

These files are in mostly "pdf" format, readable by Adobe Acrobat. If you don't already have Acrobat, it is free:

Adobe logo

Context: There are myriad study guides for any book you might want; to paraphrase Jn 21:25, I suppose that even the whole world barely has room for the study guides that have been written. So why write more? I began writing these discussion questions while leading and later co-leading (with David Boris) a graduate-level Bible study at the University of Rochester in New York. I am currently in a small group at Rochester CRC filled with more smart folks who have a strong penchant for analysis and deep thought. There seems to be a dearth of discussion questions which address this desire--hence these materials. 

click here to return to the main page.