Psalms Part One Is First Release
By Anne Kerhoulas, Staff Writer
After twenty years of teaching and equipping university students through Bible courses, Christian Union will release its first publicly available Bible study this summer. Published through Tyndale, Christian Union’s study on the Book of Psalms is broken into three parts; The first part (Psalms 1-41) will be released in early August, with parts two and three being offered later this fall.
Publishing Bible studies for the public has been a dream of Christian Union Founder and CEO Matt Bennett for some time, but only in the past couple of years did that dream become a reality. Michael Racine, who previously served as a Christian Union ministry fellow at Yale University, transitioned to a full-time writing position to begin months of exegesis work that covered the longest book in the Bible. He is currently developing a study on Job and will also complete one on the Gospel of John in the coming months. Racine hopes that the studies will provide a needed resource for Christians that goes deep exegetically, delving into the original languages, while also directing and challenging readers to engage in rigorous application and practice—just like the Christian Union Bible course manuals do for students.
As stated in the introduction to the study, “Christian Union’s aim in publishing these Bible studies is two-fold: that you will grow in your knowledge and understanding of what God says in the Scriptures, through daily reading and rigorous study; and that in so doing, you will come more deeply to know, trust, love, and walk in step with the One whose words are life (John 6:63).”
Though many Bible studies are inductive Bible studies, allowing the individual to glean the information from the text, Christian Union’s study on Psalms seeks to go far beyond what is knowable from simply reading the passages.
“We wanted to create a study that contained both deep theological content while still addressing the whole human,” says Racine. “We want to dive deep into Hebrew and unpack it for you so that you can get all that information as well as what the bulk of what commentaries say so you have a much deeper knowledge of the Scripture.”
The studies will follow the same template as Christian Union Bible course manuals: a ten week study with five parts to complete each week. Some of the inspiration for creating Christian Union Bible studies came from staff members who saw how excellent the Bible course manuals were and wished they had the same caliber of study to use in their own church small groups.
Racine also believes that these studies will be well-suited for Christian Union alumni who are familiar with the CU Bible courses from university and be a blessing for believers who want to grow in their faith through in-depth studies of Scripture that supplement their regular Bible reading.
For more information or to purchase Christian Union's Psalms Bible study, click here.
