hey everybody welcome back to the Doctor Verga podcast I'm your host Jesse Verga today I'm doing something a little different this is a short intro episode for a new series called path to faith so these will just be bonus episodes but before you tap away because you heard the word faith just give me a minute this is not a sermon it's not a recruitment pitch it's a project for people who like to read and think so what is path to faith path to faith is an academic book club for sacred texts we read holy books from different traditions and talk about what they actually say not what someone else told us they say and we're starting with the Bible but it's not a church study it's not about converting anybody it's about understanding a book that has shaped entire civilizations we look at language context themes and how certain ideas aged well or didn't so who is it for this group is just for curious people people who like asking why does this say that it's for Christians non Christians skeptics and like the spiritual but still researching crew we have members in their 20s 30s 40s 50s some go to church every week and some haven't been in decades everyone is welcome as long as they show up with respect and an open mind so how does it work so we read in monthly cycles and discuss in weekly segments so each week has like a reading assignment and a short like reading companion that I write to help you guys out it highlights themes translation notes and questions for reflection then I release a podcast episode like this one a week later so you can listen and catch up at the end of each month we host a virtual meeting to share ideas and debate interpretations like civilized nerds everything is free and open to the public did I mention it's free you can find details at jesseverga.comslashpath to the No. 2 faith so what are we reading first we're starting with Genesis through Deuteronomy using the NIV Study Bible NIV stands for New International Version a modern translation that balances accuracy and readability I'll also compare it with other versions like the King James and the NRSV when the language differs you'd be surprised how one word change can flip a whole verse so what is my approach quick context about me I didn't grow up in one religious tradition one side of my family leans Hindu the other side is Catholic so I take religion seriously but not literally my background is in security and policy not theology so I approach these texts like systems to analyze patterns to study not dogmas to defend and that's kind of the tone of path to faith it's not anti religion it's just pro understanding so let's go over the ground rules rule 1 read the text yourself rule 2 recognize when something is context not commandment rule 3 disagree politely you can respect a text without submitting to it and you can learn from it without joining its religion that's what makes this an academic and inclusive space so what should you expect each episode will cover a section of the reading highlighting themes translations and modern relevance I'll connect some of the themes to concepts from systematic theology and other academic sources but always in plain English if you want to follow along or download the weekly companions again just go to Jesse virga dot com slash path to faith it's free virtual and open to anyone so in the next episode of path to faith we'll start with Genesis chapters one through 10 which is all about creation Cain and Abel and the flood and see what these stories really say when you read them yourselves so again thanks for listening to this intro for path to faith if you like the idea of learning without the lecture and discussing without the dogma stick around I will also say I am returning with my EDC episodes those will be out probably around the same time as these path to faith episodes so stay tuned