by Meghan Ascher
Special to The Leaven
LEAWOOD — “Over the course of eight years,” said Greg Doring, Curé of Ars parishioner here and leader of one of their numerous adult men’s groups, “we’ve gone through a ton of different content. Three to four years ago, one of the leaders was singing the praises of Dr. Bill Creasy’s Bible studies on Audible.com. It took him a while to get through, but at this point, Dr. Creasy’s content has become a huge part of this men’s group.
“He’s gone viral within these groups. The dads at Curé are big Creasy fans.
“Before him, Scripture was black and white, but now there is so much color to it, and he makes it fascinating.”
Creasy is a member of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and his home parish is Mission San Diego de Alcala, California’s first mission, founded in 1769 by St. Junipero Serra. He retired after 30 years as a professor at UCLA and boasts a long list of Catholic and ecumenical seats and awards.
Unlike a typical Bible scholar, he has a Ph.D. in literature, with an expertise in the “Great Books” classics and a focus on “The English Bible as Literature,” which was his title for what became one of UCLA’s most popular classes.
His story does not stop there. Between 1992 and 2020, Creasy offered lectures at parishes to help open the Bible up to people “as it emerges from history.”
As he put it, “If we don’t know the historical and cultural context of a particular section of the Bible, we’re not going to understand what is going on in it. St. Jerome called the land itself ‘the fifth Gospel.’”
He offers several courses that plumb varying depths and detail.
“I offer the ‘core,’ or ‘Bible in a nutshell,’ which is about 80 minutes. Then, I offer the ‘One Year Bible,’ ‘4-year Bible’ and ‘7-year Bible,’” he said.
“I have 500 hours of lecture produced over a five-year period, professionally recorded and edited in a studio,” he added. “Since 2020, the Audible lectures are most of my [outreach] now.”
These lectures are what the men of Curé have been listening to. But soon they wanted more and pitched the idea of hosting a Zoom meeting with him. That idea took off and quickly yielded an in-person visit.
Creasy offered a Friday – Saturday conference at the parish, and the men were thrilled. They gathered the funds to bring him in and now wish to invite anyone from the archdiocese who might want to attend.
“We consider him such a treasure to deepening the faith, that we can’t help but share him with the greater Catholic community,” said Doring.
Friday night, Creasy will offer a stand-alone lecture on “Becoming an Educated Reader of Scripture.” Saturday morning and early afternoon, he will take the method laid out the night before and, as he explained, “implement it with the attendees, focusing on King David for this lecture series.”
The event will be held on May 19-20, and information can be found on the Curé of Ars website at: cureofars.com/dr-bill-creasy-event. Freewill donations are welcome, but as Doring put it, “We don’t want cost to hinder anyone.”
For anyone interested in listening to Creasy’s lecture series, they can be found online at: audible.com and on his website at: logosbiblestudy.com.
He also offers pilgrimages to holy sites throughout the year, and the vast majority of those attendees are students of his online lecture series.
