 |  Welcome to our official Books of the Bible Series Collection! Here you can download free of charge a series of short, highly readable pamphlets introducing the books of Scripture! Each little pamphlet presents a concise (tract-size), stimulating introduction to a biblical book, which will send you straight to the Old and New Testaments to begin adventuring through the actual Scriptures. These little introductions are written with you in mind! They are by gifted scholars of the church who are skilled at opening the pages of the Bible for a broad audience. All of us want to dig more deeply into the riches of Scripture, and can benefit from these little guide books to its contents. We finally have a set of pamphlets to orient us to God’s Word!
Jews and Christians are both “people of the book.” Their communities of faith owe their origins to God’s lively Word, arcing with power off the pages of Scripture, which has always continued to  nurture and advance them. Only through the ongoing nourishment of the Word, crackling with the Holy Spirit’s energy, can the church renew itself for each new era and continue to embody God’s new creation. God makes God’s self known to us most significantly in the form of verbal revelation. God’s Word, above all else, is the church’s sustenance and foundation. To be the church, God’s church, is nothing other than to preach and to hear God’s singular, incomparable Word, and to celebrate the sacraments.
Please feel free to print out these PDF downloads and use them for personal growth and for group study. These studies are perfect for individuals embarking on a personal Bible study, hoping to have the Bible become an essential part of their lives. They are a wonderful resource as well for church groups or adult forums journeying into a book of Scripture, such as Exodus, Psalms, or Mark. The homilist beginning a preaching series on a book such as Genesis or 1 Corinthians should likewise avail herself of this resource. She should point folks in the pews to these little studies, to help them prepare to get the most out of what they are going to hear on Sunday mornings.
 Virginia Theological Seminary is thrilled to partner with Forward Movement Publications on this internet venture, aimed at helping us all encounter the Word of God afresh in its beauty, vitality, and transformative power. Forward Movement has their headquarters at 300 W. Fourth St., Cincinnati, OH 45202, and are an agency of the Episcopal Church publishing the quarterly devotional guide Forward Day by Day and nearly 400 other pieces of devotional material for individuals and parishes. Write or call (800-543-1813) for a catalog, or visit the Forward Movement website at www.forwardmovement.org.
This is a long term project, which aims to produce introductions to all 66 books of the Bible. At first, we will work at making available all of the tracts that have already been published by Forward Movement Publications. Then, we will commission new pamphlets from fresh Bible scholars of the church, on the cutting edge of understanding what the Spirit is saying to the church through the Scriptures today. As new research and insight into the Scriptures emerges, we will produce new, up-to-date pamphlets to be available alongside older, classic ones. As we press forward with excitement, we encourage your support by using and spreading the word about these materials. Your comments and suggestions are welcome. |
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