Articles in this Issue
Midwife of the Christian Bible
Irenaeus identified the books of the New Testament, then showed the church how they fit with the Old.
The First Bible Teachers: Did You Know?
Interesting and unusual facts about the church’s first Bible interpreters
The Habits of Highly Effective Bible Readers
What we can learn from the church fathers that will enrich our own Bible study.
The First Battle For the Bible
A century after Christ’s death, a literalist and a spiritualizer forced the church to choose how it would read the Scriptures it inherited from the Jews
Origen: Friend or Foe?
By turns bizarre and insightful, Origen’s allegorical forays remain fascinating reading today.
Too Racy for Bible Study
Origen could not believe the Song of Songs was a hymn to erotic love. So what did it mean?
The First Bible Teachers: Christian History Timeline
Traditions in Bible Reading
The Scholars at Antioch Rejected Allegory in Favor of History
But their interpretive method led some into heresy.
Scripture Saturation
To achieve holiness, believed the early monks, you must soak in the moral sense of the Word.
Three Wise Men from the East
The Cappadocian Fathers brought the best gift of all: a powerful scriptural defense of the Trinity and Christ’s divinity against the Arian heretics.
Early Voices on Bible Study
The Church Fathers faced two big questions: “What is Scripture?” and “How should we read it?”
Classical Ear-Training
What the church fathers heard in Homer and Virgil tuned them to the harmonies of Scripture
Augustine’s Key
The West’s foremost theologian offered a single principle by which even the unlearned could unlock Scripture’s meaning.
Augustine vs. Literalism
Why he was so fond of spiritual Scripture interpretation