You know you are working on the right project when unrelated people come up to you and ask if you will do something on it.
Director Cackie Upchurch received such confirmation on a project Little Rock Scripture Study was completing recently at a religious education conference last year when several people from different backgrounds came up to the LRSS exhibit table and asked if LRSS was planning on publishing something related to the Gospels.
Little did they know that LRSS was getting ready to release “The Four Gospels.”
LRSS has been developing a study edition of the entire Bible and is awaiting the U.S. bishops’ final approval of the final text of the Old Testament.
“We decided the best and most appropriate thing to do was to compile the materials that we have for the four Gospels because that is the core preaching of the Church, the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Upchurch said.
The book accents the Gospel with an article on the background of the Gospel at the beginning of the book and an article at the end on the Bible in liturgy.
Little Rock Scripture Study is known worldwide for its group Bible studies, but it has ventured into other projects in the past few years, such as “A Year of Sundays,” a reflection on the Sunday Gospels, and “What the Bible Says About …,” a free study series available on their Web site.
“The Four Gospels” “is really our first major offering for personal use as well as for groups,” she said. “Our hope is that people, who may never join a study group, will still benefit a great deal from the study tips and tools that are scattered throughout the text itself where you need it.”
In addition to having the footnotes and the cross references that the New American Bible translation offers, the study edition also incorporates materials that will allow people to understand the archeology, culture, definitions of terms, how they are used and how the Church has used some of the passages liturgically, Upchurch said. It also includes prayerful reading of certain passages.
“And then the other thing too that I think is a real obvious connection is the catechumenate process, it is still geared to the Gospel proclamation, and I think it is a very good tool as well for the catechumenate even as gifts for those who are in the process of fully exploring their faith in a new way, in a deeper way,” Upchurch added.
Like most materials LRSS puts out, it is for people in varied levels of study.
“For those people maybe, for example, who have always kind of gotten into what the words mean and cross references and may never have thought about the spirituality part as much, and there is something of that in there, or for those people who really pray the Scriptures well, but they don’t have a whole lot of background or the patience to try to find the information or read extended articles, they have the bits and pieces there to help them do that,” Upchurch said. “We hope it is going to have a wide appeal. This can be sold through bookstores. Our material is generally not sold through bookstores because it is a process and materials that are sold in sets, generally they are not sold in bookstores, but this will be.”
Upchurch said she hopes the study edition will help people grow in their relationship with Christ.
“The reviews so far have been very positive and excited about how practical it is as well as how ample the information is, and yet it is applicable to the way we learn and the way we live. That is exactly what we wanted to hear from people,” Upchurch said.
“Just within days of putting it on our Web site and on our catalog we have had half a dozen calls asking if we are going to do the Bible. We are working on that, and as we are able to get the translation we need, we will be ready,” she added.
Father Ron Witherup, SS, superior general of the Sulpicians in Paris, joins Upchurch as editor of the book. Other contributors are Sister Mary Elsbernd, OSF, of Loyola University in Chicago, Father Leslie J. Hoppe, OFM, of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago; Sister Irene Nowell, OSB, of Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kan., and Sister Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB, of St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith.
In addition to the LRSS Web site, www.lit tlerockscripture.org, the book is available at amazon.com, local bookstores, religious bookstores including Guardian Church Goods in Little Rock or from the LRSS office at (800) 858-5434 or lrss@dolr.org. It sells for $24.95.