Beyond the Lectionary – A Year of Alternatives to the Revised Common Lectionary - Softcover

Anabel C. Proffitt, Ph.D. - David Ackerman s offering of a fourth Year D to the three year cycle of lectionary texts is a gift to preachers and teachers who seek to expand their congregation s exposure and study to texts that are often ignored or even avoided in many congregations today. As one who preaches and teaches from the lectionary, I welcome this new resource for its potential to expand both my students and my congregation s awareness of often ignored biblical figures such as Rahab, Tamar, and Rehoboam, as well as allowing them to spend significant time in (often short-changed) books like Leviticus and Ecclesiastes. Ackerman s thoughtful interweaving of these texts to fit the church year will assist preachers and teachers in enriching their congregations repertoire of images of God and the multiplicity of ways the biblical account describes God s interactions with God s people.

Beyond the Lectionary gives preachers a new year of Biblical texts that are not found on Sundays (or other mainline Protestant holy days) in the three-year cycle of the Revised Common Lectionary. It provides readings from the Hebrew Bible, Psalms, Epistles/New Testament and Gospels for each Sunday of the liturgical year, along with several midweek observances. The texts have been selected with an eye toward continuity (progressing in order) and complementarity (textual completion or harmony), and they are accompanied by commentaries and prayers. Written in language that is accessible to both lay people and professionals, Beyond the Lectionary has the potential to transform congregational culture by bringing more of the content of scripture to people's awareness.