Orthodox Christian Bible Studies Blog -

My new Bible study for Orthodox Christian teens and adults - The Catholic Epistles: An Orthodox Bible Study of James, 1-2 Peter, and 1-3 John - will officially launch tomorrow. I'm leaving the banner advertising the study of the Gospel according to St. John the Theologian up on the homepage for one more day for teens who might engage in last-minute cramming to prepare for tonight's Bible Bowl at the Antiochian Archdiocese Convention.

Posted in Bible Studies, Youth Department

John 21 MP3

Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 at 1:48 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 21 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 20 MP3

Posted on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 at 2:40 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 20 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 19 MP3

Posted on Friday, June 05, 2009 at 2:33 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 19 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 18 MP3

Posted on Monday, May 25, 2009 at 12:09 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 18 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 17 MP3

Posted on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 12:56 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 17 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 16 MP3

Posted on Thursday, May 07, 2009 at 4:15 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 16 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 15 MP3

Posted on Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 12:28 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 15 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 14 MP3

Posted on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 11:48 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 14 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 21

Posted on Wednesday, April 08, 2009 at 10:38 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter twenty-one of the Bible study on the Holy Gospel according to St. John.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 20

Posted on Wednesday, April 08, 2009 at 8:39 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter twenty of the Bible study on the Holy Gospel according to St. John.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 19

Posted on Wednesday, April 08, 2009 at 1:54 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter nineteen of the Bible study on the Holy Gospel according to St. John.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 13 MP3

Posted on Tuesday, April 07, 2009 at 4:20 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 13 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 18

Posted on Monday, April 06, 2009 at 1:05 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter eighteen of the Bible study on the Holy Gospel according to St. John.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 12 MP3

Posted on Wednesday, April 01, 2009 at 4:00 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 12 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 17

Posted on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at 5:05 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter seventeen of the Bible study on the Holy Gospel according to St. John.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 11 MP3

Posted on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at 4:09 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 11 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 16

Posted on Friday, March 20, 2009 at 12:48 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter sixteen of the Bible study on the Holy Gospel according to St. John.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 10 MP3

Posted on Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 1:42 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 10 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 15

Posted on Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 1:37 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter fifteen of the Bible study on the Holy Gospel according to St. John.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 9 MP3

Posted on Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 3:54 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 9 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 8 MP3

Posted on Tuesday, March 03, 2009 at 4:08 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 8 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 14

Posted on Monday, March 02, 2009 at 12:04 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter fourteen of the Bible study on the Holy Gospel according to St. John.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 13

Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at 12:26 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter thirteen of the Bible study on the Holy Gospel according to St. John.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 7 MP3

Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 at 3:56 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 7 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 12

Posted on Monday, February 23, 2009 at 12:10 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter twelve of the Bible study on the Holy Gospel according to St. John.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 11

Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 12:26 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter eleven of the Bible study on the Holy Gospel according to St. John.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 6 MP3

Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 3:58 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 6 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 10

Posted on Friday, February 13, 2009 at 4:42 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter ten of the Bible study on the Holy Gospel according to St. John.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 9

Posted on Thursday, February 05, 2009 at 12:46 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter nine of the Bible study on the Holy Gospel according to St. John.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 5 MP3

Posted on Wednesday, February 04, 2009 at 4:36 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 5 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

Two Updated Quizzes

Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 at 1:15 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded updated copies of the quizzes for John 1 and John 3.

The original versions of these quizzes apparently became corrupted when they were exported as PDF files, causing the second page (with the answers) to not appear when viewed in some versions of Adobe Reader. Unfortunately, since the problem didn't affect my PDF viewer (Skim), I wasn't aware of the issue until someone contacted me this morning.

If you've already downloaded and printed copies of these quizzes, you'll want to get the updated copies with the answer key (and a few additional questions).

Posted in Bible Studies

John 4 MP3

Posted on Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 4:43 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 4 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 8

Posted on Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 5:52 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter eight of the Bible study on the Holy Gospel according to St. John.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 3 MP3

Posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 at 9:37 AM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 3 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 7

Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 at 3:47 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter seven of the Bible study on the Holy Gospel according to St. John.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 6

Posted on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 4:11 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter six of the current study of the Holy Gospel according to St. John the Theologian.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 2 MP3

Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 5:17 PM by Jason Barker

An MP3 version of the study on John 2 is now available for the JOHN Bible study.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 5

Posted on Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 12:23 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide for chapter five of the current study of the Holy Gospel according to St. John the Theologian.

Posted in Bible Studies

Added MP3s to John

Posted on Wednesday, January 07, 2009 at 1:57 PM by Jason Barker

I've added a list of MP3s to the John Bible study. The MP3s to which I link from that page are episodes from the current series of my GET WISDOM podcast.

There is currently only one MP3 listed on the page (the episode of GET WISDOM that I finished about two hours ago), but a new link will be added each week as I progress through the Gospel on the podcast.

Posted in Bible Studies, Get Wisdom!

John 4

Posted on Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 2:26 PM by Jason Barker

The study guide is up for chapter four of the study of the Holy Gospel according to St. John the Theologian.

Posted in Bible Studies

New Episodes of GET WISDOM and re/CALL

Posted on Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 11:03 AM by Jason Barker

The new episodes of the GET WISDOM and re/CALL podcasts are up.

Next week on GET WISDOM I'll start a new series on the Holy Gospel according to St. John the Theologian, with the study guides coming from my current ongoing study of the book.

Posted in Bible Studies, Get Wisdom!, re/CALL

John 3

Posted on Friday, December 26, 2008 at 7:25 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide (and corresponding overview) for chapter three of the Holy Gospel according to St. John the Theologian.

Posted in Bible Studies

John 2

Posted on Sunday, December 21, 2008 at 8:49 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded the study guide (and corresponding overview) for chapter two of the Holy Gospel according to St. John the Theologian.

Posted in Bible Studies

New Bible Study on John

Posted on Monday, December 15, 2008 at 12:55 AM by Jason Barker

I've just launched my new Bible study on the Holy Gospel according to St. John the Theologian. The study features full-color study guides, quizzes, and homilies from St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel.

I've currently only completed the study guide for the first chapter, but the complete set of quizzes and homilies are available now. I'll upload new study guides on a regular basis throughout the first few months of 2009.

Posted in Bible Studies, Youth Department

Life Together: 1 Corinthians 16

Posted on Saturday, February 02, 2008 at 8:35 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded chapter sixteen of Life Together: An Interactive Study of 1 Corinthians. I've also uploaded new printer-friendly versions of all the articles (minus the NKJV translation of 1 Corinthians itself, for which we would have needed another license).

And with all that, I've completed this study of 1 Corinthians!

Remember that you can also listen to my study of the epistle in the Department of Youth Ministry and OCN's podcast, GET WISDOM.

Posted in Bible Studies, Get Wisdom!

Life Together: 1 Corinthians 15

Posted on Friday, February 01, 2008 at 9:22 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded chapter fifteen of Life Together: An Interactive Study of 1 Corinthians.

Posted in Bible Studies

Life Together: 1 Corinthians 14

Posted on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 12:30 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded chapter fourteen of Life Together: An Interactive Study of 1 Corinthians.

Posted in Bible Studies

Life Together: 1 Corinthians 13

Posted on Monday, January 21, 2008 at 7:27 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded chapter thirteen of Life Together: An Interactive Study of 1 Corinthians.

Posted in Bible Studies

Life Together: 1 Corinthians 12

Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 at 8:49 PM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded chapter twelve of Life Together: An Interactive Study of 1 Corinthians.

Posted in Bible Studies

1 Corinthians 11 Uploaded

Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 11:01 AM by Jason Barker

I've uploaded chapter eleven of Life Together: An Interactive Study of 1 Corinthians.

Posted in Bible Studies

The Study of 1 Corinthians Has Launched

Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 at 10:52 AM by Jason Barker

Life Together: An Interactive Study of 1 Corinthians is now available! You will find both the multimedia Bible study application (which requires the free Adobe Shockwave player), as well as HTML versions of the articles. You can also download group study guides and quizzes.

The study is currently complete through chapter ten, and will be finished over the next few weeks.

Remember that the current GET WISDOM radio series - with group study guides (actually using the same text as the Life Together study guides) - is also covering 1 Corinthians.

Posted in Bible Studies, Youth Department

More Registrants Needed for the 1 Corinthians Study

Posted on Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 2:07 PM by Jason Barker

There has been a surprisingly low number of people registered for the free email program for Life Together: An Interactive Study of 1 Corinthians. In case you haven't already read the post to which I linked, individuals and youth groups can register - for absolutely no charge - to receive each week (for sixteen weeks) a personalized email with that week's study guide for 1 Corinthians, as well as an overview of the chapter and other information.

At this point, unless registrations increase significantly, I would spend a substantially greater number of hours creating and running the free email program than the number of registrants for the program. This, of course, would not be an acceptable use of time and resources. Therefore, I will need quite a few registrations in the next week to justify operating the free personalized email program.

Remember, the Life Together Bible study launches November 1st.

11/1/07 Update: Registration for the email program is now closed.

Edited on: Thursday, November 01, 2007 11:23 AM

Posted in Bible Studies

NEW BIBLE STUDY BOOKLET

Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2007 at 9:45 AM by Jason Barker

You can now download my free, eight page, full-color booklet on Bible study, You Can Read the Bible: An Orthodox Guide to Bible Study.

The booklet gives a brief overview of why you should read the Bible, the role of Orthodox Tradition in Bible study, and three methods for engaging in transforming Bible study.

The first two episodes of GET WISDOM - and their study guides - were based on this booklet.

Download your free copy today!

Posted in Bible Studies, Get Wisdom!, OCN, Online Resources, Youth Department

Register for Personal Emails for "Life Together"

Posted on Tuesday, October 02, 2007 at 4:51 PM by Jason Barker

Life Together: An Interactive Study of 1 Corinthians, which launches November 1st, will be the 2007-2008 online multimedia Bible study of the Department of Youth Ministry - Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (it is also a featured ministry of our partner, the Orthodox Christian Network). The study will be used by Teen SOYO groups throughout the United States and Canada to prepare for the 2008 Bible Bowl; it will also be used by youth groups in other Orthodox jurisdictions.

Life Together will feature the biblical text of 1 Corinthians (from the New King James Version), a modern commentary for each chapter, and a commentary by St. John Chrysostom; articles about persons and places that appear in the text; articles about Orthodox Christianity and applying the biblical text to the reader's life; downloadable study sheets for group study; and quizzes.

I wrote an article earlier featuring screenshots of the Life Together user interface; click here to read that article and get a preview of the "look and feel" of the application.

Like all our Orthodox Christian Bible Studies, Life Together will be completely free to access and use.

Beginning on Life Together's launch on November 1st, I will also send personalized emails to Orthodox teens (one email per week for the sixteen weeks of the study) featuring an overview of the content from that chapter, with an attached group study guide and an encouragement to engage in group study with the teen's local Orthodox youth group. Like the Bible study application itself, this personalized email is also completely free.

11/1/07 Update: Registration for the email program is now closed.

Edited on: Thursday, November 01, 2007 11:25 AM

Posted in Bible Studies, Youth Department

1 Corinthians Application will Be Free

Posted on Tuesday, September 04, 2007 at 10:33 AM by Jason Barker

Related to yesterday's preview of the 1 Corinthians Bible study, I should point out that the Bible study application itself - as well as the group study handouts - will remain free, as they have been in the past.

The only thing for which parishes will need to pay - and this only if you choose to participate - is the personalized email program, where we send a weekly email (with that week's group study handout attached) to each member of your parish youth group. A small (and yet to be determined) fee will be necessary for us to pay for the service through which we will send the personalized email to individual teens.

Posted in Bible Studies

1 Corinthians Preview

Posted on Monday, September 03, 2007 at 4:49 PM by Jason Barker

Below are screenshots from the basic template for screen in Life Together: An Interactive Study of 1 Corinthians, scheduled to launch November 1st. Please note that, while the design is largely complete, there will still be small changes made between what you see in this initial design and the final application as I have new ideas for design elements within these templates, as well as needing to adjust the templates to better accomodate the content.

Click the small graphic to see a full-size screenshot of that screen.

SPLASH SCREEN

This splash image will stay onscreen for a few seconds before automatically forwarding to the home screen. This splash screen gives basic identifying information - title and creator - and presents the user with the design theme of a coffeehouse.

HOME SCREEN

The home screen is the main index for the application. It is designed to look, obviously, like a bulletin board, a central source for community information in a coffeehouse. Each of the fliers on the bulletin board links to a different content index: e.g., "Join Us on the FULL TOUR" links to the index linking to the home screen for each chapter, "Read the Bible" links to the index linking to the biblical text for each chapter, etc.

INDEX SCREENS

The index screens link to individual articles, and are organized by content type: e.g., the "Bible Chapters" index links to the biblical text for each chapter. The screens are designed to look like the menu board in a coffeehouse. This is one of the types of screens that will probably appear a little differently in the final version, but this gives you a general idea of the look & feel of the screens.

The "Back" button will take users to the previous screen.

CHAPTER SCREENS

The chapter screen is the main screen for each chapter. The screens are designed to appear as if you're looking down at a tabletop in a coffeeshop, with the standard things that would appear in such a place, e.g., coffee cup (obviously), laptop, mobile phone, etc.

My intention at this point is to create a small Flash movie that will play in the phone's screen. When the user first comes to a chapter screen, the phone will ring. Clicking on the phone will bring up a short Flash video with photos from the chapter, and a voiceover by me telling the user about the main points of the chapter. If, however, creating this is too time consuming, I will simply use the Isight camera built into my Mac to record a quick video of me saying the same thing. I'm reluctant to use this option, however, because few things scream "NOT YOUTH" more than a low-res video of a chubby middle-aged guy talking.

MAIN MENU

You can see at the bottom of the chapter screen a box saying "MAIN MENU." Clicking this box - which will appear on all chapter and article screens - will pull up the main menu, which links to the specified index screen. The main menu is designed to look like the handwritten guest check you still receive in some restaurants.

ARTICLE SCREENS

The article screens are the most common screens in the application, because every main article - biblical text, commentary, life application article, etc. - appears on one of these screens. They are designed to look like a person is holding up a menu to read. Clicking on one of the tabs to the right of the article will take the user to that article for the current chapter, e.g., clicking "LIFE" will take the user to the life application article for that chapter. This enables the user to easily move between articles within a chapter.

SUBARTICLE SCREENS

Subarticles - such as explanatory notes about persons or places mentioned in the text - will appear on screens like this.

PERSONALIZED EMAIL

I am currently pricing and trying out email programs that will allow me to mail personalized email to each member of a participating youth group. This email - which will be sent each week for sixteen weeks (there are 16 chapters in 1 Corinthians) beginning the week of November 1st - will have attached to it a PDF document (the same one users can download by clicking the "Handouts & Quizzes" tab on an article screen), and will contain an overview of the chapter being studied and an encouragement to participate in that parish's youth group.

I will announce the price plan and subscription information for the program as soon as the Department of Youth Ministry has decided precisely how we will handle this new feature for our Bible studies. If you would like to be notified of developments regarding the personalized email program, or if you are interested in learning how your parish youth group can participate, please contact me via the email or AIM buttons at the top of the left sidebar of this blog, or contact Fr. Joseph Purpura at the Department of Youth Ministry.

Edited on: Monday, September 03, 2007 4:54 PM

Posted in Bible Studies

Luke on Hiatus for New Projects

Posted on Monday, June 25, 2007 at 12:36 PM by Jason Barker

The Department of Youth Ministry decided this weekend to put The Journey: An Interactive Study of the Gospel According to St. Luke on hiatus until sometime next year. While progress was occurring on the project, the fact that the 2007 Bible Bowl competitions have now started means that far fewer of the teens in the Antiochian Archdiocese will be looking at the study in the near future. We therefore decided to put Luke on hiatus for the rest of the year while I work on two exciting new projects.

The first new project is another interactive Bible study application - Life Together: An Interactive Study of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. This study will launch in November, and therefore will be the first of my studies to be available for study groups to use in the winter and spring before the Bible Bowl competitions. In addition to the wide array of articles, graphics, and handouts for which my Bible studies are known, Life Together will contain new audio and video elements. Furthermore, with Life Together the Youth Department will launch a new program for Orthodox study groups: for a small (and yet to be determined) donation, I will email on a weekly schedule personalized copies of our full-color handouts to each teen in participating parishes. In addition to the personalized handouts, the weekly emails will contain a short summary of the material in that chapter of 1 Corinthians, and will encourage the teen to participate in your parish's study group and/or youth activities. This program will be available for parishes in all Orthodox jurisdictions.

The second new project in which I will engage will be a new radio program for an Orthodox Christian media ministry. This program will be part of an exciting new partnership between this Orthodox ministry and the Department of Youth Ministry (I am currently not naming the ministry because a formal announcement of the partnership has not been made). In addition to partnering on Life Together and future interactive studies, I will create a radio program - to launch in September - focused on teen Bible study (this will be the first Orthodox radio program created specifically for teen listeners). As an additional resource, each episode of the radio program will also have available a handout that listeners can download to participate in the study.

This summer will therefore be spent beginning work on these two new projects. To keep up-to-date on these projects, as well as learning more about both our partnership with the Orthodox media ministry and the upcoming program for emailing personalized handouts on 1 Corinthians, you can subscribe to this blog by either bookmarking our RSS feed or signing up for the email version by entering your email address in the "Subscribe by Email" box in the right sidebar of the blog's homepage.

Posted in Bible Studies

Updated Version of the Romans Application

Posted on Tuesday, June 05, 2007 at 1:36 PM by Jason Barker

An individual using Be Transformed: An Interactive Study of the Epistle to the Romans wrote that she was having trouble opening some of the commentaries (specifically, the commentaries did not appear at all in her browser).

I was unable to discover the cause of this specific problem, but did learn that at least one version of the Shockwave player that has been released since Be Transformed was released in early 2005 was having trouble rendering some objects on the screen (particularly labels for some headers and buttons). This might have interfered with the button scripts. I also noticed that the popup blocker in the latest version of Firefox was preventing external files from opening.

I've tweaked the button scripts, altered some of the headers to work with the new rendering format, and placed a popup notice on the application's webpage, and have uploaded the updated version of the application.

Please let me know if you experience any problems with the updated application.

Posted in Bible Studies

Luke Homepage Online

Posted on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 6:39 PM by Jason Barker

The homepage for the Luke application is now online.

We are currently experiencing a problem with our site - specifically, I believe, with our domain registration: going to www.orthodoxyouth.org will take you to www.orthodoxyouth.net, where there is no real content. We are working on this problem. In the meantime, going to the subdirectories for our Bible studies - as well as the subdirectory for this blog - still works:

Edited on: Monday, May 14, 2007 10:49 PM

Posted in Bible Studies

Luke Chapter 1 is Online

Posted on Tuesday, May 01, 2007 at 6:54 AM by Jason Barker

The first chapter in our new Bible study on Luke is finally online. It is a Shockwave application, so you'll need the Shockwave player to use it.

I pulled an all-nighter finishing this and other elements that should be the final draft of the Youth Worker application, and I still have more work to do today, so I'll leave comment on the Luke application for another time.

The next task on Luke is to create the home and index web pages for the study, and then I'll be able to progress on chapter two.

Posted in Bible Studies

Okay, So Luke Will Be a Little Later...

Posted on Monday, April 23, 2007 at 6:00 PM by Jason Barker

Completing the Youth Worker application is taking a bit longer than anticipated, and thus the first chapter of Luke will not be online until later this week. I hope to upload some screenshots of the Youth Worker application tomorrow, so you will at least be able to see what has been occupying my time for the last few months.

As a sort of consolation for these months of delays, I've uploaded two other works I created in the past.

The first is a series on the Fruit of the Spirit. This series contains ten PDF files that are suitable for individual and group study.

The second is the Web-version of the first multimedia application I created, What Can Orthodox Christianity Mean for Me? This Web version (for Windows browsers only) contains the basic application, minus the audio and video files of Vespers and the Divine Liturgy that are included in the CD version. You will need to install the Plexus plug-in from Digital Workshop in order to use this application in your browser (I created the original application in a now obsolete program called Illuminatus Opus).

Posted in Bible Studies

Luke Preview

Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 at 1:32 AM by Jason Barker

Development for the Luke Bible study is progressing, but problems prevented me from uploading the completed first chapter last week: the graphics software for my Mac has still not arrived, forcing me to laboriously go back and forth between operating systems for almost every task. Combining this with learning some of the different ways in which I need to use Director in the Mac - as well as simpy the vagaries of life - and the launch for the Luke application has been pushed back to this week.

To give you an idea of what the Luke application will be like, I've uploaded a couple of screenshots of a typical article page (in this case, the biblical text of Luke chapter one). These are shots of the same page: the difference is that in the first the main navigational menus are closed, whereas in the second shot they are open. Click on the graphics to open a full-size version of the picture:

Image 1: Screenshot with navigational menus closed.

Image 2: Screenshot with navigational menus open.

The title of the application is "The Journey: Travel with Jesus Through the Gospel According to St. Luke," and the graphic design theme is travel related. Thus, the elements on each screen are designed to look like travel-related paraphernalia: tickets, postcards, stationary, maps, Polaroid snapshots, etc.

At the top of the screen you will see two things: a compass (which is there simply as a decoration) and the main navigational menu, which is designed to look somewhat like an airplane ticket. The main navigational menu links to six indices: Bible chapters, main commentaries, the commentaries of St. Cyril of Alexandria on the Gospel, articles about Orthodoxy, life application articles, and handouts.

The main section of the screen has five objects, four of which are active. On the left you will see a yellow stickie note, and below that a Polaroid-looking graphic of St. Luke. The stickie note is where brief explanatory notes about the text will appear: for example, clicking a hyperlink about Herod in Luke 1 will bring up a brief note like you see here (there will not be hyperlinks in the biblical text itself; I simply included the explanatory note for this preview so that you can see what will appear there). The Polaroid-looking graphic is where photographs and illustrations will appear: clicking the arrows at the bottom of the "photo" will allow you to scroll through the photos for that page. When reading the main commentary, these images will be illustrations of the scenes depicted in the text, as well as photos or illustrations of locations mentioned in the text. When reading life application articles, these images will primarily be photos of members of Teen SOYO.

In the center of the screen is the main document for that page (in this case, the biblical text of Luke 1). The document is intended to look like hotel stationary: "The Journey" logo appears in the left corner, while the standard street address is replaced with identifying information for the chapter and a link back to the Orthodox Christian Bible Studies homepage.

On the right side of the screen you will see a postcard, and below that a map. The map is simply there as decoration. The postcard, however, contains important buttons related to that document. The top button will enable you to return to the home screen for the application. The second button will enable you to return to the homepage for that particular chapter of Luke (in this case, the homepage for Luke chapter 1). The third button will enable you to return to the previous page you viewed. The fourth button (which for copyright reasons will not actually appear on pages containing the biblical text; I simply included the button in this screenshot so that you could see it) will take you from the application to a simple HTML copy of the article for printing.

On the bottom of the screen you will see a wallet with a stickie note protruding from it: it is intended to look like a wallet carrying an array of tickets or slips with travel info. This is the navigation for the articles for that chapter. Thus, clicking the "Bible Chapter" button in this case would take you to the biblical text of Luke chapter 1, etc.

This gives you a glimpse of a somewhat typical page in the Luke application. Keep reading this blog, because the Luke application REALLY IS COMING!

Posted in Bible Studies

Quizzes Uploaded

Posted on Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 3:39 PM by Jason Barker

I apologize for the recent delay in updates to both this blog and Orthodox Christian Bible Studies - medical problems (from which I will spare you the details) have stopped cold my productivity this week.

I have uploaded the remainder of the quizzes on the Gospel according to St. Luke. My recent problems have prevented me from completing the elements for chapter one of the Luke application that would have enabled me to upload the chapter this week, but - God willing - I should have the chapter uploaded next week. I'll announce on this blog when the first chapter is actually available for use.

Posted in Bible Studies

Bishop Kallistos Ware on Reading the Bible

Posted on Friday, January 26, 2007 at 9:45 AM by Jason Barker

How to Read the Bible, an essay by Bishop Kallistos Ware, is online here. Bishop Kallistos concentrates on five aspects of Orthodox Bible reading: Reading the Bible with Obedience; Understanding the Bible Through the Church; Understanding the Bible Through the Church; Christ, the Heart of the Bible; and The Bible as Personal.

I believe this is the same essay that appears in the Orthodox Study Bible but, since my copy of the OSB has been missing since our move last summer, I cannot check to be sure.

Posted in Bible Studies

New Pages for Luke Quizzes and Bible Bowl Promotion

Posted on Thursday, January 11, 2007 at 5:03 PM by Jason Barker

I've created two new pages associated with the 2007 Bible Bowl resources and the upcoming study on the Gospel according to St. Luke.

The first page is a promotional popup for the 2007 Bible Bowl resources. This popup is accessible by clicking the "Bible Bowl" link at the top of the Orthodox Christian Bible Studies homepage.

The popup links to two additional pages: the homepage for the Luke Bible study application (I will activate the link when I begin uploading chapters in late January), and a page listing the study quizzes on Luke. These quizzes will be the same study quizzes incorporated into the Luke Bible study application.

I will soon upload the additional quizzes for Luke. I encourage all Teen SOYO leaders and youth workers in the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese to download these questions for using with your youth. Everyone else is of course encouraged to use these study questions for your personal study of Luke.

Posted in Bible Studies

Creating Quizzes on Luke

Posted on Monday, January 08, 2007 at 11:02 AM by Jason Barker

I am writing quizzes for users to review the biblical text of the Gospel according to St. Luke. The quiz for each chapter will be in PDF format, and the entire list of quizzes will be available on a separate page for downloading. These quizzes will later be included in the forthcoming online multimedia application on Luke.

When completed, I will post a link on the homepage and in this blog to the page listing the quizzes.

Posted in Bible Studies

Improved the "Follow Me" Page

Posted on Sunday, January 07, 2007 at 5:44 PM by Jason Barker

I added a style sheet to the home page for Follow Me: A Study of the Gospel According to St. Mark. This style sheet improves the appearance of the links to the PDF files.

I also added brief descriptions of the contents of each PDF file.

Posted in Bible Studies

New Page for Follow Me

Posted on Thursday, January 04, 2007 at 1:09 PM by Jason Barker

I've created a new homepage for Follow Me: A Study of the Gospel According to St. Mark. The page is simple, but it somewhat recreates the look of the PDF handouts.

Posted in Bible Studies

Fixed Viewing Problems with Internet Explorer

Posted on Tuesday, January 02, 2007 at 11:28 AM by Jason Barker

I've fixed a couple of problems viewing the new homepage in Internet Explorer. In both cases, IE was having some problems with javascript.

In one case, where the main Flash menu was displaying as a thumbnail rather than at full size, I temporarily removed the javascript and simply embedded the Flash file as an object. In the other case, I placed the javascript in a different cell in the table in which it is located.

Both solutions are rather "quick 'n dirty," but they seem to work for the time being.

Posted in Bible Studies, Miscellaneous

Fixed a Flash Problem

Posted on Monday, January 01, 2007 at 11:10 PM by Jason Barker

I fixed a problem with the Flash menu on the homepage. For some reason, it was a bit random on the rollover functions: for example, rolling over the "Acts" button would sometimes bring up the "Romans" description.

I added an additional script command to each of the buttons that seems to have solved the problem.

Posted in Bible Studies, Miscellaneous

New Home Page

Posted on Monday, January 01, 2007 at 8:36 PM by Jason Barker

I've finished the new homepage for Orthodox Christian Bible Studies.

The main navigational menu is a Flash file. I originally created it using DHTML, but was unable to figure out why there was no consistency in the way the menu appeared in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera. After struggling with it for a while, I finally gave up and simply created the menu in Flash.

There are two images - one each of a male and female - that appear randomly in the left cell with the "Orthodox Christian Bible Studies" logo. There are also three promotional graphics - for the Youth Department, Archdiocese, and House of Studies - that appear randomly in the bottom right of the screen.

Posted in Bible Studies

Bibles as Widgets

Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 at 10:20 PM by Jason Barker

Related to my earlier post on study Bibles, I like this quotation from an article in the Wall Street Journal:

“The question is always how do we create Bibles that people will pick up and use but that will not be too gimmicky,” said Tyndale House’s [Kevin] O’Brien. “If you get too trendy you’ve turned the Bible into a widget.”

Posted in Bible Studies

New Yorker Article on Study Bibles

Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 at 11:33 AM by Jason Barker

The New Yorker has published an article on study Bibles, The Good Book Business: Why publishers love the Bible. A large portion in the middle of the article provides a brief history of the proliferation of modern translations (with a notable statement by the influential translator Kenneth Barker - no relation - “We like to think that the motivation [for many modern translations] is all holy and pure, but finances do enter the picture, and publishers and Bible societies like to have their slice of the pie"), but the majority of the article focuses on the niche marketing of study Bibles.

The article has several paragraphs about "Biblezines," the popular tabloid-formatted publications marketed to teens (although, as some commentators have claimed, are probably largely chosen by parents for their teenaged children). Of particular note is a quotation of one of the ostensible "study notes" in the 2007 edition of the Revolve Biblezine:

Have you ever had a white stain appear underneath the arms of your favorite dark blouse? Don’t freak out. You can quickly give deodorant spots the boot. Just grab a spare toothbrush, dampen with a little water and liquid soap, and gently scrub until the stain fades away. As you wash away the stain, praise God for cleansing us from all the wrong things we have done. (1 John 1:9)

This quotation reminds me of a paragraph I wrote in my MA thesis (I've removed the paranthetical citations for this blog):

Interpreters and instructors must avoid the danger of trying to “fit” the biblical texts into adolescent interests. As an example of this danger, the Teen Devotional Bible describes the depiction in Genesis of the fracturing of human language at the Tower of Babel as “the result of a bunch of folks way back when who thought they were way too cool,” and similarly summarizes the Song of Songs as a dialogue between “Solomon and his love-muffin.” In another example, Revolve, a tabloid-styled Bible targeted to early adolescent girls, describes the role of Christ in the life of a Christian by comparing it to makeup: “You need a good, balanced foundation for the rest of your makeup, kinda how like Jesus is the strong foundation in our lives.” Rendering modern culture preeminent, and then adapting the biblical text to fit that culture - not to mention a consumer culture - ultimately trivializes the Bible; furthermore, many adolescents - particularly those who are not already active in the Evangelical Protestant circles which publish and promote these Bibles - will find such adaptations to be condescending and unsuccessful in meeting their needs.

I believe the last sentence summarizes the problem with these niche Bibles: they trivialize the Bible, and they are ultimately ineffective in their intended purpose. The most significant problem is that these niche study Bibles are in fact seldom truly study Bibles: they are simply the biblical text surrounded by - and too frequently, suffocated by - silly pop culture references and self-help snippets. These so-called study Bibles therefore fail, in the words of Phyllis Tickle in The New Yorker article, to "separate out the culturally transient and trashy from the eternal," and thus violate “something close to moral or spiritual barriers.”

Furthermore, even if these study Bibles were not too often simply culture-dictated fluff, they are often ineffective in their intended purpose: to repeat Mark Oppenheimer's claim from my thesis, non-Evangelical Protestants will find the Biblezines to be condescending and irrelevant. Since the stated purpose of the Biblezines is to attract individuals who do not currently read the Bible (see, for example, The New Yorker's description of the product proposal for Revolve), this is yet another significant failure of these products.

This is not to condemn the entire concept of study Bibles: my point is to criticize squeezing the Bible into a niche. The Orthodox Study Bible, for example, avoids the perils of the niche-targeted study Bibles by giving general study notes about the biblical text that are applicable to all Christians, rather than "helpful hints" that are at best only loosely related to the text (if at all related), and also are limiting the audience of the text to - for example - girls aged thirteen to sixteen in the year 2007 (and, in the Biblezine genre, literally only the year 2007).

I need to point out that there are significant differences between these so-called study Bibles and Bible studies like the studies I create. First, there is a significant difference between providing an external set of commentaries and application articles about the Bible (as the Department of Youth Ministry does with our Bible studies), and packaging a set of cultural ephemera with the biblical text in a single volume and calling it the Bible (as the Biblezines and niche study Bibles do).

Secondly, the focus of our Bible studies is always on the biblical text. The majority of the articles in each Bible study are on the text itself: textual commentary, explanations of biblical terminology, historical background, etc. In addition, the articles are grouped into three clearly-defined categories: the biblical text and commentaries; articles about life application and Orthodox faith and practice; and overview materials (summaries, handouts, and quizzes). Thus, as helpful as I hope my life application articles will be in assisting youth in applying the principles brought out in the biblical text to their lives, I never want the reader to believe that my application articles are in any way on a par with the biblical text, or believe that one of my life application articles is a complete summary of everything they need to know about the biblical text.

Posted in Bible Studies, Miscellaneous

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