A Little Bible Handbook
Online Version
The “Apocrypha”
A number of writings appeared in Israel just before the time of Christ. The Anglican [Episcopalian], Roman Catholic, and Orthodox churches treat them as sacred texts, but much of Protestantism does not. The Roman Catholic versions listed above (the New Jerusalem Bible, the New American Bible, the Christian Community Bible) contain these writings, and they are interspersed in different ways throughout the Old Testament. Some of the other versions listed above are also available with this material, but it is printed as a section between the Old and New Testaments. Look for an edition with the word “Apocrypha” or “Deuterocanonicals” on the cover, otherwise these writings will not be included in your Bible (and you will want to have them if you belong to one of the faith communities listed above).Study Bibles
Some editions of the Bible are published with extensive notes and explanations, and are marketed as “Annotated” or “Study” Bibles. The notes are written by modern authors and attached to one of the versions listed here.The advantage of these editions is that you have explanations of what you are reading right on the page you are looking at. The disadvantage is that some comments are of poor quality, or advance the author’s personal agenda, and you are unable to discard them without throwing out a whole Bible with them.
Commentaries
You can buy Commentaries to help you study the Bible, but you should recognise that commentaries often try to advance very specific viewpoints. One area where this is critical is the controversy about whether the Bible is literally and historically accurate. Some Christian denominations do not insist that every line of the Bible be taken literally, and some do.You can get a good estimate about which approach a commentary might take by reading a little bit of it in the bookstore before purchase. See what the one you are considering has to say about the Creation of the World, found in the first chapters of the book called Genesis. This part of the commentary should reveal the direction and attitude of the rest of the book.
How to read and study the Bible:
Follow a plan or guide (this Handbook is one type of guide, there are others). Do it daily. Pray. Answer these three questions:- “What did it mean originally?” (exegesis & commentary)
- “Where is Jesus in this passage?” (hermeneutic)
- “What does God say to me in this passage?” (exposition & meditation)
The central feature of this Handbook is an extended list of highlights from every section of the Bible.
It describes the section to be read, then lists a series of passages, usually in order of appearance in the text.
This online guide does not give hyperlinks to Bible Texts. Rather, it assumes you have an actual Bible to use. After all, becoming familiar with handling a Bible - and finding your way around it - is a major goal of A Little Bible Handbook.
Each suggested passage is briefly described, so that you will have some idea of what you are about to read.
Once you reach the part of this online guide that gives suggested passages, you will see lengthy tables of readings. You can work through them one by one, but if you wish to skip to a certain part of the bible, just go to the “Contents” section, and navigate from there. As well, navigation is facilitated by blue buttons at the top left corner of every online page.
You can do as many selections as you like at a sitting, but ideally you should do one or two per day. Read adjacent passages to get an idea of the context. Allow the message and flavour to seep in!
List, and check off, the selections you have done. Note any to which you might wish to return at some other time for further study.
Getting a “hardcopy version” of this online guide:
Because learning to use a real, hands-on copy of the Bible is the purpose of this guide, you may want to have a physical copy of A Little Bible Handbook to use with your real-world Bible. The current edition of the complete Handbook, in a convenient, professionally printed format, may be ordered online. Click here for more details.
Special section for the ABSOLUTE beginner (click here)
