Bible Project

The Bible can be a difficult book to read and truly understand, after all 66 separate books are all telling one unified story. This is why I really appreciate Bible Project (https://bibleproject.com/). On this website you will find fantastic videos on each book of the Bible, different biblical themes, and studies of theologically rich words. Often when I teach or preach, I look up the video related to that book of the Bible and get a quick refresher of the main topics and ideas in the book. These videos give an overview of the book in 5-10 minutes and hit on all of the major ideas of the book. They breach the sticky theological issues by explaining the two or three most prominent views and encouraging you to read it yourself and consider what you believe. Additionally, they approach scripture as “a unified story leading to Jesus” which means they bring out clear connections from each book to the big story of scripture. The next time you are starting to read through a book of the Bible, watch the video first and see how it enhances and deepens your reading.

While they are not a distinctly Presbyterian or Reformed group, I have watched many of the videos and have never really encountered anything with which I disagree. Generally, these are theological and biblical primers, so they stay at a high enough level to remain interdenominational. I cannot recommend these videos highly enough since they do an amazing job of making scripture more accessible and readable.

Bible Project also puts out a regular podcast which is aimed toward those who want to go a bit deeper and are interested in listening to a few hours on a particular topic. The podcasts are conversations between Dr. Tim Mackie (a theology nerd and cofounder of Bible Project) and Jon Collins (a visual artist and cofounder of Bible Project). Mackie brings a deep, rich theological ideas to each podcast and Collins asks great questions that keep the theological ideas accessible to those without higher degrees in language and theology. At some point in their conversations they usually hit on some application to everyday life as well. While some of these conversations can get a big long and get into the weeds occasionally, overall they are very well researched and extremely interesting looks at biblical themes and topics. While I often use Bible Project videos for study and for teaching others, I listen to the podcast for my own enjoyment and edification. An afternoon working in my yard or my shop while listening to an hour or two of Tim and Jon discussing theology is a great afternoon. If that makes sense to you and interests you as well, look for Bible Project anywhere you get podcasts and listen through a series that sounds interesting, I doubt you will be disappointed.