Bible Talks has been inviting students to have a discussion about the Bible since 2007 when it was revived from an earlier version had in the 1980s. Despite any expectations that people may have about the concept of a bible talk, the UMass Lowell version strives to be a gentler, more casual affair.
It meets from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. every Tuesday and Wednesday, and is hosted by Everyday People Imitating Christ in University Cross- ing Room 242. Meetings are small, with the number of ex- pected guests at 15. Members of the group are of different majors, ranging from graphic design to music to anything in between, with two graduate students in the mix.
“We’re trying to have a conversation about the Bible instead of a debate about the Bible, or a browbeating about the Bible, or an angry yelling match about the Bible. Just a conversation, and the more perspectives that we can get on the Bible, the better,” said Campus Minister Jeremy Minsk.
Everyone, regardless of denomination, is welcome to attend Bible Talks. “Everyone is the target audience, and specifically everyone who doesn’t normally talk about the Bible,” Minsk said.
The meeting’s 60 minutes are not solely devoted to re- ligion; the Oct. 11 meeting began with an icebreaker to make any new members com- fortable and to tie into the theme for that day.
Then, Minsk spoke about a Bible passage and then opened the discussion to interpretations on the text, and provided context to chapters to make sure that everyone in the room understood.
The group worked in a roundtable discussion where guests would raise their hands and offer their thoughts, often bouncing off of other points made in earlier parts of the discussion.
Sheriden Costello, a sophomore transfer student, said appreciated the casual tone of the discussion. “[Bible Talk is] a more casual and easygoing environment for everyone. Anyone can come in and see what we talk about,” she said.
Costello said that outsiders to the group may feel turned off, but assures them that the event is far from intimidating. “This is kind of more like a casual way to bring people out, because, you know, sometimes people can get freaked out, like ‘oh yeah, Church.’ I know that probably if I wasn’t here, I would think of ‘big, Catholic Church’ and I would be kind of freaked out,” she said.
Minsk says that he used to feel like an outsider when he would attend religious events, but the inviting atmosphere of Bible Talks helped him immensely, and that he has learned an incredible amount from what guests of other religions have had to say in discussions.
“We had a Jewish guy in here last week, his perspective was cool. We had an atheist guy in, and his perspective was… it was amazing how spot-on it was in terms of what that passage means. It was like, ‘Yeah! Yeah, you totally got it,’” Minsk said.
Bible Talks discusses religious text and dissects it as students would to a novel in an English class. It may be easier for students who are not familiar with the Bible to approach it in a way they would a classic work of liter- ature. The group works hard to not alienate anyone who wants to participate in discussion; their mission is to provide “a safe and organized environment to discuss the Bible and work together to see its application,” as posted on the event’s CollegiateLink page.
Morgan Minsk is Jeremy Mirsk’s wife and a graduate of Berklee College of Music. She says that she has an appreciation for UMass Lowell’s Bible Talks event because she feels that there is a sense of family, and that she leaves each meet- ing feeling thought-provoked.
“I think that the Bible discussions that Jeremy comes up with are so different each week, and they’re so diverse in content that I feel that each week is just something new… I think that it can be easy to be a part of a community where you meet, read the Bible, leave and never talk to any- one again, but something I really appreciate is that we’re actually friends who do stuff together, eat together, laugh together and, study the Bible together.” she said.
