2023 English and Greek Bible Reading Plans

I found a plan for reading through the Greek New Testament in one year over at Lee Iron’s site several years ago, but it was a pdf and needed to be updated each year. I loved this plan so much, I made my own for reading the English Bible through in one year as well. Two principles are at work:

1. Chapters longer than 38 verses are broken into two readings; The whole-Bible reading plan has you reading about four chapters/readings per day, with a few tweaks here and there so that the daily chapter breaks make the most sense;
2. Extra day(s) added at the end of each month in order to build in space in case you fall a day or two behind.

For my English Bible reading I use a NKJV single-column Bible. The plan is arranged in Hebrew canonical order (Law, Prophets, Writings), and not the typical English Bible order (which follows the Septuagint). I switched to Hebrew canonical order several years ago and have loved the effect it has on my reading through the OT.

For the Greek NT, I read the Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine text which (rightly!) places the Catholic Epistles immediately after Acts, rather than the Pauline epistles. I love reading James, Peter, John, and Jude up front, rather than towards the end of the year. I wonder how our theology might shift if we gave slightly more prominence to these books than we typically do. I use this plan to get through the Greek NT in a year, but you could use it to read through the NT in English as well if you’d like.

So, for that tiny group out there who hopes to read through the the Bible following the Hebrew and old Greek canonical order in 2022, here are a couple of plans to print out and check off as you go:

Whole Bible Reading Plan (2023)Download

New Testament Reading Plan (2023)Download

Francis and Charlotte Grimké in the A.M.E. Church Review, 1885–1887

The A. M. E. Church Review (1895)

The African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church Review was first published in 1841 under the title “The Church Magazine,” but stopped after eight years (Daniel Payne, History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (1891), 147–53). The magazine was revived in 1884 under the editorship of Benjamin Tucker Tanner as the A.M.E. Church Review and published quarterly. During these first few years, Francis Grimké published several articles in the Review. I have found four, only one of which has ever been made available before.

Francis J. Grimké, “Wendell Phillips,” (February 24, 1884)

(image: Wendell Phillips and Francis Grimké)

Wendell Phillips (November 29, 1811 – February 2, 1884), one of the greatest white abolitionists of the 19th century, died on February 2, 1884. He was memorialized across the entire country, including in Washington, D.C. On February 5, a meeting was held at the Berean Baptist church “to make arrangements for holding a memorial meeting testimonial to the memory of Wendell Phillips. Among those in attendance were John Brooks, senator Blanche Bruce, and speeches were delivered by Alexander Crummel and “Rev. Frank Grimké.” Grimké was also appointed to the committee for “speakers” for the upcoming memorial service (“In Memoriam of Wendell Phillips,” National Republican (Washington, D.C., February 6, 1884).

Sunday, February 17th, Grimké delivered a sermon on the life and character of Wendell Phillips. The sermon was very well received:

“Quite a number of citizens and sojourners have requested Rev. Frank J. Grimke, to repeat his sermon delivered last Sunday. He has consented to do so, and next Sunday morning at 11 o’cl.k. the subject on the life and character of the late Wendell Phillips will be presented by the eminent and able pastor of the 15th street Presbyterian Church” 

“Sermon on Mr. Phillips,” The Bee, Washington, D. C. (February 23, 1884)

“Slavery Days: Sketch of Theodore Dwight Weld” (1889)

Theodore Dwight Weld (1803–1895) was one of the most important white abolitionist figures of the 19th century. Francis Grimké called him “one of the greatest of anti-slavery orators” (“Centennial of the Birth of William Lloyd Garrison,” The Works of Francis J. Grimké, 92). In 1864, Weld moved to Hyde Park, MA, just outside of Boston, where he helped to open a school. Weld lived in Hyde Park until his death in 1895 at the age of 91.

Maybin W. Brown

Maybin W. Brown (1856–1924) was born in Andover, MA, and started working in newspapers at the age of 14. He joined the staff of the Boston Globe in 1885 as a reporter for the Hyde Park district where he reported until 1893 (“Maybin Brown Killed by Train,” Boston Globe, April 14, 1924). Late in 1888, Brown went to “visit Theodore Dwight Weld at Hyde Park. The veteran of the fight for human liberty gives an intensely interesting interview on his career and that of his co-workers” (“Speaking to Mobs.” Boston Globe, January 4, 1889). The interview is a fascinating sketch of Weld’s life, contains a number of direct quotes from Weld, and is a fascinating glimpse of his life at every stage, from a young boy, until his later years. It also includes a brief tribute from the abolitionist poet John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). The original can be found here: Maybin W. Brown, “Slavery Days: Sketch of Theodore Dwight Weld” Boston Globe, January 6, 1889.

The Boston Globe, January 6, 1889

I originally stumbled across the interview researching Francis Grimké. Grimké’s aunt Angelina Weld Grimké, who married Theodore Weld in 1838, discovered that she had three Black nephews after her brother’s death, and decided to recognize them as family and help them financially. It was this financial aid that enabled Francis Grimké to attend Princeton Seminary, and his brother Archibald to attend Harvard Law School. This familiar connection between Grimké and “Uncle Theodore” and “Aunt Angelina” is fascinating.

To my knowledge, it has never been transcribed or available (other than in the archives), until now:

Maybin Brown, “Sketch of Theodore Dwight Weld” (1889)Download

“Friend of the Poor and the Suffering”: A Christmas Sermon by Francis Grimké (1880)

(image: Harriet Jacobs; Charlotte Forten Grimké; Francis J. Grimké)

Francis J. Grimké

After graduating from Princeton Seminary in 1878, Francis Grimké began his first run as pastor of Fifteenth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. While in D.C., Francis and his wife Charlotte Forten Grimké renewed their friendship with Harriet Jacobs, the famous author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861). In 1862, Jacobs had recruited Charlotte to travel to St. Helena’s Island in Beaufort, South Carolina to help newly liberated enslaved people. When Jacobs died in 1897, Francis Grimké delivered the eulogy for her (available on JStor). Among her qualities, Grimké highlighted her generosity: “She was also the very of generosity; she possessed in a remarkable degree, what we sometimes call the milk of human kindness. Especially did her sympathies go out towards the poor, the suffering, the destitute. She never hesi­tated to share what she had, with others to deny herself for the sake of helping a suffering fellow creature. There are hundreds, who if they had the opportunity, today would rise up and call her blessed, to whom she has been a real sister of charity, a veritable Dorcas…”

Julia Wilbur Diary, December 25, 1880

On Christmas Day, 1880, Jacobs and Grimké and a few other women (including Mary Chaflin and Julia Wilbur) collaborated to put on a “holiday dinner” for a group of “destitute old freedwomen” (The Harriet Jacobs Family Papers, 2: 760). Abolitionist and suffragist Julia Wilbur was present for this dinner and describes the scene in her diary (available online here): “There were 12 women & 12 children there. Dinner set in style in an elegant dining room. Mrs. C.[Chaflin] & niece & one other lady waited on them. It was like a foretaste of Paradise for these poor old ex slaves… Mrs. C. said ‘she believed she was the happiest of them all.’ There is luxury in doing good.”