The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Start Here: Introduction to the Early World (with Jeff Cavins)
01 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the purpose of the Bible in a Year podcast?
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension.
Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. Welcome to the official start of the Bible in a Year podcast. Today, this is the day that we begin our journey. where we read through the entire Bible in 365 days.
But before we begin with day one, we have to first introduce the very first time period of the Great Adventure Bible Timeline. So as you probably already know, what we'll be following over the course of this entire year, 365 days, is the Great Adventure Bible Timeline.
Chapter 2: What is the Great Adventure Bible Timeline?
And the person who created this is the renowned Catholic Bible teacher, Mr. Jeff Cavins, to give you an introduction to the early world. This is gonna be so important. Like this episode is gonna be very important as we launch into the early world, which is the very first time period of the Great Adventure Bible Timeline.
So as you know, the reading plan that we're using, it's inspired by this Great Adventure Bible Timeline, which divides the Bible into 12 time periods. And if you have the Great Adventure Bible, those time periods are identified by different colors and that would serve kind of like as chapters in salvation history.
So every time we arrive at a new time period in the Bible, we're going to be able to have Jeff on this podcast to give you an introduction to that period.
Chapter 3: Why is the Early World period important for understanding the Bible?
So my hope is that these episodes, these like beginning launching a new time period episodes will give you a deeper understanding of the biblical context of as we read through the Bible, because that's one of the goals we want to have. We want to be able to understand the context as well as the stories. We're not just getting a collection of stories. We're also getting like the big story.
And Jeff is here to do that. Before we begin, however, the Bible translation that I'm using, quick reminder, It is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition, and I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension because it has all the color coding.
Chapter 4: How does Hebrew poetry influence our understanding of Genesis?
It has all the timeline in it. You can follow along super easily. If you want to follow along, not only in your own Bible, but also know what's coming, we have a downloadable PDF that's the Bible in a Year Reading Plan. You can get it for free just by going to ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year.
So if you want to get your Bible in a Year reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You also can sign up for our email list and get the updates and text messages, whatever, and probably not text messages, but the email list by texting the word Catholic Bible. I know that's two words, but we're combining them together. Catholic Bible to the number 33777. Again, just text
In your text function of your phone, just the number is 33777. And in the message part of it, just type all together, not two words, but one word, Catholic Bible. Lastly, please subscribe in your podcast app.
So not only will you get an update every single time we drop an episode, which is gonna be every single day for the next 365 days, but also that way it kind of gives some more exposure and people can learn about this podcast. So all of that being said, let's get started. As I've mentioned before,
I have learned probably more about the Bible from one individual named Jeff Cavins than maybe any other human being on this planet. I'm so grateful for him not only to have created the Great Adventure Bible timeline, but all of his other Bible studies, as well as I'm so grateful for his friendship because it would be an understatement if I called him a mentor.
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Chapter 5: What themes are introduced in Genesis chapters 1-11?
It would be an understatement if I called him someone that I just find myself... Um, constantly referring to what he has taught me, what I've learned from him. Um, we're constantly referring to what I've heard him say or what I've read him, uh, read him, right. But we're joined today by Jeff Cavins.
He's going to get us, give us kind of basically, um, not only an overview of the first time period, which is the early world, but also give us a deeper dive into like, what can we expect over the next few days as we're reading through the early world. So with all that being said, Jeff.
Welcome. Thank you. It's good to be with you, Father. And, you know, you kind of feel like, remember when you were growing up and you knew that you were going to go on vacation starting in September, and it's the night before, and do you have everything together? Is everyone packed? Are we ready to go on this? And we are. We're launching. And congratulations to you.
Chapter 6: What is the significance of the Fall in the Early World narrative?
It's going to be an exciting year and an opportunity for people to get the story. As you said earlier, you know, there's a lot of stories in the Bible, but what about the story and putting it all together? And I think over this next year, not only are you going to be able to read through it, but you're going to be able to give people some guidance and some inspiration. And, you know, the
The year 2020 was a big year as far as memory, but 2021 is going to be a real special year as far as new discoveries. So excited about it. And we're going to try to make it as simple as possible for people to read through it. And if you've never read the Bible before, don't worry. There was a time where I had never read the Bible before.
Yeah.
I can't believe that. But I have to believe it because I know how time works. But Jeff, so one of the things that before, as we launch in, one of the pieces that's going to happen in every one of the podcasts is we will proclaim scripture. And I really think it's...
not just being recited, I think we really wanna have it so that you get the sense that the people are listening, get the sense that it's being proclaimed, but also there's gonna be a little guidance. At the end of every podcast, there's kind of some commentary that I'll offer or some kind of like, here's what I have gotten out of some reflections on this or trying to put things in context.
But before we do that, can you offer us some context for when it comes to not just the idea but also the implementation of these 12 time periods? Whether that's a brief description of how you came up with that or if it's just kind of like how you found that to be incredibly useful.
Sure, yeah. You know, there was a time where I didn't know really how to read the Bible, and I started in Genesis and thought, well, I'm going to go to Revelation at the end. I'm just going to say, man, that was an amazing story. You know, what's next? But I lost my interest in it, trying to read it through in chronological order, at least. And so
What we have put together in the Great Adventure Bible and the studies is we have made the difficult simple. And that's really the key to understanding the Bible is take this incredibly complex book, and it's written over a few thousand years, and make it simple. so that people can understand it. And so what we did is we divided the Bible up, as you said, into 12 periods.
And then out of the 73 books, not all books are equal. They're all inspired, but they don't all do the same thing.
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Chapter 7: How does the story of Noah relate to the themes of sin and redemption?
There are certain books that are narrative. There are certain books that are prophetic, certain books that are poetry, apocalyptic, all kinds of different genres. So what we are doing is picking out the 14 narrative books, as you will be reading through those 14 books in the next year. But you are going to be expertly putting the other 59 books in the historical context. And so
When you're reading one of the 14 narrative books, you're also going to be throwing in, for example, the Psalms or the Prophets when they speak. And this will be an incredible tool for people to get a taste of these books that up till now are sort of a mystery. You'll give them a place to live and to be understood. So that's what we're going to be doing. And
And when we look at the early world, you're going to be reading for five different days and going through the first 11 chapters of Genesis. And that is the beginning of our entire journal, is the first five books of Genesis. And we give it a color, turquoise, because it reminds us of the Earth viewed from space.
If you were to go way up there in space, look down, you see this beautiful turquoise ball. and that reminds you of creation. And so when you look at Genesis 1 through 11, there is going to be an awful lot at the very, very beginning. And what you're going to encounter in these first five days is you're going to encounter themes,
and patterns which are going to be revisited as you read throughout the year. It might be in June or it might be in September that you're going to think, wow, I've been here before. This is really, really interesting.
And so another thing to remember about reading the first 11 chapters of Genesis is that it's a history of the early world, but it's not written as a type of history that we are used to. We're used to, okay, just tell me the facts and how it happened.
But in the first 11 chapters of Genesis, God is going to explain to you the beginning and creation of the world, creation of Adam and Eve, how we ended up falling, the introduction, of course, of Lucifer, Satan, how we fell, what are the consequences, and wow, where do we go from here? That's what we're going to be covering here, but it is written in Hebrew poetry form.
And so when you read about the serpent and you read about the garden, all true, but it's written in a very creative way. Now, does that make it less historical? No. No. It doesn't at all. It's just the way that God had it written, and it's actually very beautiful.
Now, when you get up to the patriarchs, which you're going to be up into that period pretty quick, that's typically more of a linear type of history, which we're going to get into.
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Chapter 8: What can listeners expect as they begin their Bible reading journey?
Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. It is, you know, it's early world. It's the beginning of the entire story, but it's told in a very dramatic way. And you think about it, we're dealing with chapters 1 And two, we're dealing with creation. And imagine that. All of creation, the entire world, Adam, Eve, everything, is in just a few hundred words.
And so we have to ask ourselves, well, what is God trying to get across in the early world? And basically, it is that he has created a place for his greatest creation, which is mankind, to dwell. and he's going to have a relationship with Adam and Eve in the garden, and it doesn't go so well. It kind of goes south real quick.
It doesn't go so well. That's a great way to describe it. It kind of doesn't turn out how you want it to.
Well, it's interesting, in the very first chapter, the key here is the first and second verses. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void. And darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.
The key there is, is at the beginning, is that as you look at creation, there is no form and it's void. And the creation... really deals with the formlessness, and then it fills the void. So, for example, when you're dealing with formlessness, you have the first three days of creation that are dealing with the formlessness. For example, on the first day, God is going to create time.
On the second day, he's going to create space. On the third day, he's going to create land. So you've got time, space, and land. And then on days four, five, and six, God is going to fill the space. And so you have the sun, the moon, and the stars on day four. You have on day five, the birds, the fish. And then on day six, you got the beasts of the field. Yeah.
But you got one more thing on day six, too.
Something else happens. No, that's an interesting, it's so powerful. I think, I remember the first time I heard you describe that, that here is kind of a, I don't want, recapitulation is the wrong word, but that you said form and void being filled. So you have, again, time, space, and land. And in time, what marks the time? Well, the moon and the stars. Like, okay. And then here is space.
And what fills the space is the birds of the sky and the fish and the, and then what fills the land is the animals on here. And I didn't realize like, oh my gosh, this is, Uh, it's structured in a way that makes sense.
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