Paul’s Prison Letters

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Did you know you could read and study the Bible without using any chapters or verses? The books of the Bible are real “books.” They’re meant to be experienced the same way other books are: as exciting, interesting works that keep you turning pages right to the end and then make you want to go back and savor each part. The Understanding the Books of the Bible series of study guides will help you do that with the Bible. While you can use these guides with any version or translation, they’re especially designed to be used with The Books of The Bible, an edition of the Scriptures from Biblica that takes out the chapter and verse numbers and presents the biblical books in their natural form.  Written with careful attention to the original language, historical setting and literary structure of each book, these guides are great for individual study, Sunday School classes, and small group Bible studies. They make a great next step for churches and other groups that have done a Community Bible Experience with Biblica.

The Rev. Dr. Christopher R. Smith is a writer and biblical scholar who lives in East Lansing, Michigan. He pastored local churches for nearly twenty years and was a consulting editor to the International Bible Society (now Biblica) for The Books of the Bible, an edition of the Scriptures that presents the biblical books according to their natural literary outlines, without chapters and verses. He is also the author of After Chapters and Verses: Engaging the Bible in the Coming Generations and of the other volumes in the Understanding the Books of the Bible study guide series. He is a volunteer campus staff worker with Graduate InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Michigan State University. He has a B.A. in literature from Harvard, a master’s degree in theological studies from Gordon-Conwell, and a Ph.D. in historical theology and Bible from Boston College. He has published articles in journals such as New Testament Studies, Novum Testamentum, and The Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. He answers questions from users of these study guides on his WordPress blog, “Understanding the Books of the Bible.”

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