What is the Bible?

For Christians, the Holy Bible – both New and Old Testaments, is fundamental for faith and practice. But it’s a complex, invigorating, challenging, confusing series of texts written over a great many years by many different authors within many different communities. It’s a lifetime’s work plumbing its depths, but if we put the work in, it’s a lifetime’s reward.

This page is here to help you start!

The Swedish Method

If you’re simply working on one passage of scripture, and want a bit of help in noticing what’s going on, the download below is brilliant:

Swedish Method of Bible Study

Kings, Kingdoms, Conduct, Change and Covenants

Often a text or book will make more sense when we get to grips with the overarching narrative, or story, which is normally held within the idea of “covenant” (think Old Testament as Old “Covenant” and New Testament as New “Covenant”).

To help with that, try downloading the following document when you’re working with a book in the bible:

Understanding the Bible through covenant

The BibleProject

If you want to go deeper, but don’t know how, the BibleProject is an outstanding resource which will help you understand whole books, themes, details, and the links between the grand ideas and narratives.

They have a stunning website, that combines Bible text with incredibly high quality graphical storytelling. You can also download their app on the Play Store or Apple’s App Store and enjoy the same benefits or go to their YouTube channel.

Reading the Bible in a Year with Ascension Presents

Found on Spotify and other podcast platforms, the “Bible in a Year” with commentary and reflections from Fr Mike Schmitz and the Catholic Bible scholar Jeff Cavins, is an outstanding accompaniment to any long journey or quiet evening – and you just might finally understand the whole book!