Bible study enlightens Christians at Schenectady parish

When a Bible study course is being taught at a Catholic parish by a United Methodist scholar, something unique is happening.

So unique that the parish waited a long time for the chance to hear Camilla Smith's lessons on Scripture.

Her eight-week course on such books as Job, Psalms, Ruth and Esther is now underway at St. John the Evangelist Church in Schenectady. Mrs. Smith, a Saratoga Springs resident, has been teaching adults about the Bible for more than 40 years.

Welcome instructor

St. John's parishioners have been waiting several years for Mrs. Smith to teach at their parish. Sharran Coppola, religious education administrator at St. John's, attended Mrs. Smith's course at United Methodist Church in Schenectady in 1993. She enjoyed it so much that she wanted Mrs. Smith to teach at St. John's as soon as possible, but she had committed to other parishes and wasn't available until last autumn.

That's when she began her four Bible study sessions, which will span a two-year period. Last fall, she taught a course on the great prophets; future sessions will focus upon the New Testament and the early books of the Old Testament, including Genesis and Exodus.

More than 50 people from the Catholic faith and other denominations have registered for the course.

Talks and tapes

Mrs. Smith, professor emeritus of English and humanities from the State University at New York in Delhi, uses the New American Catholic Bible translation in her courses, but she encourages students to bring other versions to compare Scripture passages.

She's written study materials for students to use; her husband, Rev. Harold Smith, a retired United Methodist minister, videotapes each class in case students are absent and want to see what they've missed.

Although her students come from various faith backgrounds, Mrs. Smith finds them to be open-minded and willing to share their thoughts in class. She also gets to know them on a first-name basis by taking pictures of them and memorizing their names.

First is last

Mrs. Smith holds the early books of the Old Testament until the last of the four sessions. The reason is that many people have an emotional attachment to the Creation story, she said, and may not be accustomed to her teaching style or contemporary biblical scholarship.

BY having students examine other books in the Bible first and then going back to Genesis, "we can look at the heart of what the story is all about and how it exemplifies the human condition and the human relationship to God," she said.

"My greatest hope is that they will use their minds as they read the Bible and come to their own conclusions," she said.

(Anyone interested in taking the Bible study course, which runs on Tuesday evenings through April 14, can register by calling 372-3381.)

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