I am suspicious of the data in Whose Sermons Are Least Likely to Mention a Book of the Bible? - Lifeway Research because churches using a lectionary may refer to first reading, second reading etc. rather than explicitly mentioning a book but did you know that "churches with fewer than 200 members (61%) are more likely to mention a specific book from the Old Testament than churches with more members (55%)."
Shows how little i know. I am so used to hearing a reading from ....
What I have often thought about though, is how often scripture is read or quoted in the service texts. I know in our services outside of liturgies, often whole psalms are read but the reader doesn't say "Psalm" such and such. Or how often lines of scripture are quoted or sung but not cited like
As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ....
etc.
I still get a laugh thinking of a Presbyterian mother of a Catholic parishioner (Catholic father rather than a convert) who was serving as a liturgical reader for the first time. After the service, the mother complained that there was no Bible reading. When the parishioner pointed out that she had read from an epistle of Paul, the mother retorted "but you didn't give chapter or verse". [A]
The article may be poorly written rather than (or in addition to) being poorly researched. It may be the case that the writer was referring strictly to sermons/homilies. He may have been collecting data on rates at which the sermon referenced a book of the Bible (although the article does not make those distinctions... it's very unclear and ambiguously written).
it's very unclear and ambiguously written
I agree but thought regardless of exactly what the numbers mean, assuming that they are consistent in their meaning, the correlation to congregation size amused me.
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