Part of the Sermon on the Mount from Codex Sinaiticus, an early complete manuscript of the Greek Bible

Welcome to the Bible FAQ and Guide!

When you join -- or rejoin -- a Christian church, you necessarily encounter the Bible at the same time. In my church (a parish in the Anglican Church of Canada), not only are there three readings from the Bible at most services, but the liturgy, as with all Anglican liturgies, is biblically based and full of quotations from and allusions to the Bible. The sermon usually addresses one or more of the Bible readings, but it isn't going to cover every aspect of them. This creates a problem, because the Bible is the product of ancient societies very different from our own. It presents a world that can be strange and even confusing.

Perhaps you have dim memories of Bible stories in a kids' book. Or perhaps you have unhappy memories of earlier church encounters that were complicated or cut off by kinds of biblical interpretation that you disagreed with or felt excluded by. Maybe you've only heard the Bible read before at your grandmother's funeral. Maybe you've been going to church for a long time but, as many Anglicans also do, you've restricted your exposure to the biblical readings in the liturgy. Maybe you've been interested enough to start a program of Bible reading, but have given it up after a few weeks or months.

If you fall into any of these categories but want to deepen your understanding of the Bible and its place in church life, this guide is meant for you! It's not meant to replace the adult Christian Education that your church might offer, but to supplement it. Having led discussions and given presentations in such programmes in my own parish, I have often wanted some short introduction to the Bible and Bible reading that I could recommend to newcomers. So I wrote one! It was originally aimed at members of an Anglican parish, but I hope you will find it useful whatever church you attend.

The Bible FAQ: Seven questions, with pretty detailed answers, about the Bible, its contents, and its history. It is a starting place for those who want to go deeper into the Bible.

The Bible Study Guide: Suggestions about how to study the Bible, kinds of questions to ask, how to do a Bible Study.

Bible Study Helps: A few ideas of where to go for help and answers when you study the Bible.

Return home