Saints LightThe Bible, the Catholic Way
What the Bible is, how the Church received it, and how to read it with confidence. Ten lessons that take you from the 73 books to a plan you can start this week.
The lessons
- What Is the Bible, Really?
The Bible is a library of 73 books with God as its true author, written through real human authors, and it teaches without error the truth God wanted written for our salvation.
- Why Do Catholic Bibles Have 73 Books?
Catholic Bibles have 73 books because the early Church read the Greek Old Testament that included seven extra books, and the Church, guided by apostolic Tradition, has always recognized them as inspired.
- Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium
God hands on his Word through Scripture and Tradition together, and the Magisterium, serving that Word, interprets it faithfully for the whole Church.
- The Four Senses of Scripture
Every Bible passage has a literal meaning, and on that foundation God can also speak about Christ, about how to live, and about heaven.
- The Big Story: Salvation History in Seven Covenants
The Bible is one story of God forming a family through a series of covenants, each wider than the last, fulfilled in the New Covenant of Jesus.
- Reading the Old Testament with Christ in View
God shaped real people and events in the Old Testament to point ahead to Christ, so we read the Old in the light of the New without ever discarding the Old.
- The Gospels: Four Portraits of One Lord
The four Gospels are four faithful portraits of the one Jesus, each written for a different audience, and together they are the heart of the Bible.
- Paul and the Letters
Paul's letters are early, real letters to real churches, and read as a whole they teach that we are saved by God's grace through faith, a gift that bears fruit in love.
- How to Start Reading: A Realistic Plan
Begin with a Gospel, read a little every day in an approved Catholic translation, use footnotes as helpers, and turn your reading into prayer.
- Hard Passages, Handled Honestly
The Bible's hard passages are faced honestly by reading them in context, by their kind of writing, and in the light of Christ, trusting that faith and reason cannot truly contradict.
Read The Bible in full
All 10 lessons of this course are in the Saints Light app, with Scripture, three questions each and your progress kept on your phone.
Every course is open free for your first 14 days. After that, one payment of $14.99 unlocks every course. There is no subscription.