"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." These disturbing words fell from the lips (or pen) of the great St. Jerome over 1500 years ago, but they could very well be meant for our times. The bad news is that there are many Catholics today who are barely acquainted with the Bible. As a Catholic evangelist once jokingly put it, it is quite easy to find the Bible in a Catholic home: just look for the book with the thickest layer of dust on its cover.

The good news is that the tide is changing. There is now a renewed interest in the Bible among laypersons in the Catholic Church. This little write-up is intended to assist such people in starting a modest (but fulfilling) Bible study effort, either by themselves or with other like-minded Christians. I must emphasise at this point of time that this guide is by no means exhaustive or definitive, nor is it meant to be. The recommendations which I will be making below are based simply on my own experience as a Catholic layman in discovering the Bible.

At first sight, this question may seem a little silly. After all, isn't there only one Bible? The answer is (cryptically), "yes" and "no".

Yes, in that there is only one official and complete Bible consisting of 46 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament (giving a grand total of 73 books). No, in that our separated brethren, the Protestant Christians, have a slightly different Bible from the Catholics, consisting of 39 (instead of 46) books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament (ie. 66 books in all). There are doctrinal and historical reasons why the Protestant Christians in the 16th century removed 7 books from the canon of the Bible, but I will not go into those reasons here. The point which I wish to make simply is this: when purchasing a Bible, ensure that you are buying one with all the 73 books.

Besides the fact that you are getting more value for money (!), it would be a waste if you were to miss out on the wise and profound counsels in the books of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus (not to be confused with the other Old Testament book "Ecclesiastes"), or the books of Maccabees with their inspiring tales of courage and faith in the face of persecution, or the charming story of Tobias and the angel Raphael.

A simple (but inefficient) way to check if the Bible you are buying is the complete one is to physically count to see that all 73 books are there. A smarter way is to look for Latin phrases like Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur in the first few pages of the Bible, which will show that the Bible in hand is a Catholic one. Also, you are on safe ground if the Bible states that it includes the "Deuterocanonicals" (ie. the 7 books rejected by the Protestant Christians).

Since the Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, it would have to be translated into English before we are able to understand it. Due to the richness and complexity of language, you will find that there is more than one English translation of the Bible. In fact, the uninitiated can be confused and bewildered by the sheer number of choices and such confusing abbreviations like NJB, NAB, NIV, TEV, NRSV, etc.

However, selecting a translation is not really as daunting as it appears to be. Father Raymond E. Brown (the noted biblical scholar) recommends the New American Bible (NAB) and the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB). One may also choose popular or freer translations like the Today's English Version (TEV) (also known as "The Good News Bible", which is used quite extensively in the local RCIA programme), but if one were to buy only one Bible, I would suggest getting a literal translation like the NAB or NJB.

This was the reaction of the Ethiopian eunuch when Philip heard the eunuch reading Isaiah the prophet and asked him: "Do you understand what you are reading?" (please refer to Acts 8:26-40 for the entire account)

We may empathise with the eunuch when we ourselves are reading the Bible. After all, despite what some fundamentalists may assert, the Bible is not an easy document to understand. Even St. Peter himself admitted as much in 2 Peter 3:16: "In all his [ie. St. Paul's] letters there are of course some passages which are hard to understand, and these are the ones that uneducated and unbalanced people distort, in the same way as they distort the rest of scripture - to their own destruction." For those of you who did Shakespeare in school, you will probably recall having to read the notes and commentaries (which accompanied the actual text) before you could make head or tail of what the Bard was trying to say. Can we expect to understand the Bible without recourse to notes and commentaries as well? It would be sheer arrogance to think so.

I have recently become acquainted with the commentary prepared by the members of the Faculty of Theology of Navarre University. The edition I have was published by Four Courts Press. Each commentary (with the full text of the sacred book(s) in question) is a book in itself, ie. there would be one volume for the Gospel according to St. Matthew, one for the Acts of the Apostles, etc.

The beauty of the Navarre commentaries is that the views expressed therein are grounded firmly in Catholic teaching without compromising on authentic scholarship. There are copious quotations from papal encyclicals, conciliar documents (including Vatican II), writings of the Church Fathers and Saints, so that the reader is assured of the soundness of the commentary.

Furthermore (and this is the best part), the Navarre commentaries seek to make Scripture relevant by drawing practical guidelines and suggestions for growing in the spiritual life from Scripture itself. As far as I am aware, only the commentaries for the New Testament (or part thereof) have been completed so far, but I believe the commentaries for the rest of the Bible are in the pipeline.

Meanwhile, you can ask your friendly neighbourhood Catholic bookshop to carry the available titles, or you could contact the publishers directly at Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. For the web-savvy, check out the website of Scepter Publishers for information on the Navarre Bible commentaries and how you can order these books (you can even buy them straight form the ‘Net!).

Another commentary which I use is the Jerome Biblical Commentary, but the approach and style may be too dry and scholastic for most laypeople.

Commentaries are useful for zooming in and examining in microscopic detail the words in Sacred Scripture. Sometimes, however, you may want to step back and look at "the big picture" instead, eg. you may be interested in how the books of the Bible are related to each other, or the historicity and reliability of the Bible as a whole. This is where books dealing with specific issues regarding the Bible may be useful.

I have personally read and enjoyed the following: "As It Was Written... An Introduction To The Bible" by Justin Taylor, "Can You Trust The Bible? A Popular Guide For Catholics" by Francis Hogan, "Responses To 101 Questions On The Bible" by Raymond E. Brown. These titles are available (and rather inexpensively) from the indefatigable Daughters of St. Paul, who you will probably see one day outside your church selling their wares.

In conclusion, I would just like to summarise the above points: (1) make sure that you have (or are buying) a Bible with the complete 73 books; (2) if you are only buying one Bible, it is preferable to choose a literal (as opposed to popular) translation like the NAB or NJB; (3) use a Bible commentary, eg. the Navarre commentaries; and (4) keep a lookout for books dealing with Bible issues, but check to see that their views are orthodox! Last, but not least, don't forget to ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten you before you start to read the Bible. After all, reading the Bible is not just a literary endeavour, it is primarily a spiritual exercise.