No Greater Story
Timeline seminar gives faithful a starting point to study and understand the Bible
By Kathleen Ogle
Managing Editor
PISCATAWAY – Human beings crave a good story.
According to Catholic theologian Jeff Cavins, human beings have a natural desire and need for story because we are all looking for something to belong to, something that gives context and meaning to our lives.
To hear such a story, 300 people crowded into Bakhita Hall at the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center Feb. 10 for the Great Adventure Bible Timeline Seminar led by Cavins. The seminar was sponsored by the Evangelization Offices of the Dioceses of Metuchen and Trenton.
Although it may seem daunting to tell the story of salvation history — the entire Bible — in a one-day seminar, Cavins has found a way to do it that’s fun. His down-to-earth and engaging style kept participants’ attention throughout the day.
He began with an explanation of the timeline chart and materials, and then using personal anecdotes as well as funny but often corny jokes, Cavins took participants through the 12 biblical periods, identifying the major parallels between the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. Describing Jesus as Israel personified, Cavins showed how Jesus relived Israel’s history over and over.
“When I say ‘The Story,’ I’m not talking about make believe, I’m not talking about myth. I’m talking about the real story of the universe and God’s interaction with man,” he said. Noting that while parts of the Bible are meant to be read as allegory, “a good deal of this history” describes “God under the clouds; God moving with King David, Abraham and Solomon.”
Cavins made it a point to begin the seminar with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
“The Catechism tells us in article 133, ‘Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ’,” he said. “If you are ignorant of the story then there is going to be a certain level of ignorance you are going to have to deal with when it comes to Christ, sacraments and prayer.”
He then referred to the four pillars of the Catholic faith, as outlined in the Catechism: the Creed, sacraments and Liturgy, life in Christ and prayer.
Cavins pointed out that the Creed is actually “the story” boiled down into statements of our faith, all of which can be found in salvation history, beginning with Creation.
“Pillars 2, 3 and 4 — sacraments and Liturgy, life in Christ and prayer — all spring from the story. If you don’t know the story you will be at a deficit,” Cavins said.
- Sacraments and Liturgy, he said, are how one gets into the story.
- Life in Christ, he said, is one’s personal script for living the story. “What What are you supposed to live? The life of Christ. I am Christian; I know what I am supposed to be living; I know what I am supposed to be doing. My guide, my plumb line, my rule is Jesus Christ. I am living the will of Jesus. Everything that is important to him I will do,” Cavins said.
- “Prayer is the intimacy of the heart, the communication between us and God, both corporately and individually in prayer,” Cavins explained.
Many people attempt to read the Bible without context and quickly find themselves bored. Without context, according to Cavins, Scripture, the sacraments and Liturgy, the life of Jesus Christ and prayer do not make sense.
Cavins designed his Bible timeline for anybody who is interested in Scripture. Unlike other timelines that have been built over the years that can overwhelm the Bible student, his timeline puts the story together in a narrative form that can be easily understood.
“Without it you’ve got to mentally reconstruct the entire Bible and hold it in your mind,” he told The Catholic Spirit. “Most people cannot do that; they need something to continue to go back to that’s physical, that they can see. That’s the way we learn.”
According to Cavins, the seminar is only a starting point for participants’ further study of the Bible. In the one-day seminar, Cavins outlined what he typically teaches over the course of 24 weeks.
The workbook includes a three-month plan to read the 14 narrative books of the Bible, which Cavins said can be done by reading four chapters a day. “In three months you get the basic story,” Cavins said. The timeline also shows where the other 59 books fit into the context of the 14 narrative books. “Then you can go back and read it again including the Psalms and the prophets.”
Raised a Catholic, Cavins left the Catholic Church and was ordained a Protestant pastor until 12 years ago when his Scripture studies led him back to the Catholic Church.
“Everything was pointing to the Catholic Church — Eucharist, papacy, Mary as the Queen Mother. All of these things find their types in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, you don’t see the reality unless you look at the Catholic Church: A real pope, a real Lamb of God in the Eucharist, a real Queen Mother, tradition, the liturgical life,” he said. “All of these things drew me back but it was mainly the Eucharist, my understanding of the Old Testament and its relationship to the New Testament.”
Cavins said he was inspired to put the timeline seminar together during his first trip to Israel. There he observed a man, wearing a prayer shawl, teaching his children, one on each knee. “I decided I wanted to teach my children.”
He told participants, “If we don’t teach our children the story, the story stops here.”
Igniting the people’s interest
Asked what a Bible conference has to do with evangelization, Jodie D’Angiolillo, coordinator of the diocesan Office of Evangelization responded, “Everything.”
D’Angiolillo believes Bible studies are a good tool to evangelize people. “I promote Bible studies as a way to bring people to an experience of Jesus, to form them in their relationship with him and to deepen their relationship with him. If you already have a relationship with the Lord, it will deepen it. If you don’t, it can bring you into that relationship and set it on fire.
She said Cavins has a “real gift for sharing the timeline aspect of the Scriptures, which I think is foundational to enter into any other Bible study.
“If you don’t have the understanding of what the Scriptures is about, why study the Book of Ruth or why study the Book of Isaiah?” she continued. “A lot of people study different books out of context. I start with getting the context and building on that. Get the foundation laid, which is an overview of Scripture. Then you can study any book because you want because you know when and where it fits into the story.”
D’Angiolillo said the Office of Evangelization will be sponsoring additional timeline seminars beginning in September.
The Great Adventure Bible Timeline
The timeline divides biblical history into 12 periods:
• Early World: Creation to 2000 B.C.
• Patriarchs: 2000 to 1700 B.C.
• Egypt and Exodus: 1700 to 1280 B.C.
• Desert Wanderings: 1280 to 1240 B.C.
• Conquest and Judges: 1240 to 1050 B.C.
• Royal Kingdom: 1050 to 930 B.C.
• Divided Kingdom: 930 to 722 B.C.
• Exile: 722 to 540 B.C.
• Return: 538 to 176 B.C.
• Maccabean Revolt: 176 to 0 B.C.
• Messianic Fulfillment: 0 to 33 A.D.
• The Church 33 to (end)
Each period is color coded and lists the corresponding biblical books, the major biblical events, the reigning world power and the major developments of secular history. In addition to a chart of the timeline, participants received workbooks, a bookmark and a bracelet with colored beads matching the color-coded time periods.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law