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Welcome to this course on how to read the Bible.
Lesson 1 - The Bible as the Word of Man
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm, and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words” (CCC 109). This lesson teaches how to do this.
Lesson 2 - The Bible as the Word of God
As Christians, we believe that the Bible is the word of God. Three important theological concepts that derive from this are: inspiration, biblical truth, and interpretation. This lesson explains these concepts in a simple and understandable way.
Lesson 3 - The Senses of Scripture
A biblical passage, like any text, can have different levels of meaning. In biblical theology, these levels are called the senses of Scripture. There are two basic senses: the literal sense and the spiritual sense, although the latter can be divided into three types. In this lesson you will learn to identify and describe each of these senses.
Lesson 4 - The Revelation of God
In this lesson we will look at the concept of divine Revelation. Why and how did God reveal himself to us? We will answer these questions by presenting and explaining numbers 26 to 73 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Lesson 5 - Scripture, Tradition, and Magisterium
God’s full Revelation has one common source—Jesus Christ—but is transmitted to us in two distinct modes: Sacred Scripture and Holy Tradition. To ensure that all generations properly receive and interpret this Revelation, God has also entrusted to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him, the task of interpreting the Word of God authentically. In this lesson we will look at the relationship between Revelation, Tradition, and the Magisterium.
Lesson 6 - Other Principles of Interpretation
Four additional principles that help us read and interpret the Bible correctly are: (1) to read the Bible as one continuous story; (2) to apply the tools used to analyze the works of literature; (3) and to pay attention to the textual context, (4) as well as the historical-cultural context. In this lesson we will explain these principles in more detail.
Lesson 7 - Why Read the Bible?
I think most people would agree that the Bible is a very difficult book to read and understand. In this case, why read it at all? Wouldn’t it have been better if God had given us a simple handbook, one that clearly stated what he expects from us? In this lesson, we will try to answer these questions by looking at what the Bible says about itself and how the Jews, and later the first Christians, approached their sacred writings. This will help us understand its place and role within the life of the Church and in our own personal lives.