Students of the Word
Upcoming Schedule
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I plan to meet for our Bible discussions every Sunday that I am home and available, but sometimes I might be traveling in a given weekend. I'll try to keep this space updated so you can know what's coming (and what isn't coming)!
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September 2022: I have returned from my summer travels and should be able to settle back into holding Bible study for a few weeks in a row, through September 18.
Latest Session Recording:
Readers of the Bible. Disciples of Jesus.
Current Book under discussion:
The First Epistle of John
To be a Christian is to be a student. The word “disciple” means “student”, and before he ascended to Heaven, Jesus’s final command to his students was that they should go into all the world and teach, making more students (Matthew 28:19-20). As Christians in the modern world, our calling is still to be students of Jesus and to help each other in fellowship as we learn about Him and from Him. We are to be Students of the Word, studying the Bible, the written word of God, as we walk as the disciples of Jesus, the living Word.
My name is Corey Olsen, and I am hosting a Bible study open to anyone who would like to join me as a Student of the Word. Some might know my work as The Tolkien Professor and with Signum University. In the online discussions I host on The Lord of the Rings and other books, I like to go slowly and read closely, and I plan to do much the same as we study the Bible together. Although I am an experienced literature teacher, I am not a Bible expert, and in the course of our discussions I hope to learn at least as much as I teach. Would you like to join me for a patient, thoughtful, and prayerful study of the Bible together, reading whole books verse by verse?
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Our First Book: I John
Why am I starting with I John? I want to study I John for the very good reason that I have never understood this epistle at all. In fact, for most of my Christian life, it has seemed to me that a lot of Christians actively try to ignore it. John says things like “If Christ abides in you, you won’t commit sin” or “Those who commit sin are the children of the devil.” These kinds of proclamations make a lot of people want to back slowly away from this letter. Is this letter actually talking to real people like us?
Recently, I have settled down to study this book carefully, and it has totally blown my mind. I have been reading and even memorizing I John for a few months now, and I am very excited to walk through this letter with other Christians in fellowship.