Father John Spellman, OSFS
Religion Department
Salesianum School

jspellma@salesianum.org
(302) 654-2495 (x 208)

The Bible (Sacred Scripture) tells the story of the loving relationship between God and mankind. It brings us to a deeper relationship with God, teaches important truths about Christian faith, and challenges how we live our life and relate with other people.

God's Word came to us as a person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus was fully human so that people could experience God's love firsthand. He was also fully God so that through him death is overcome and new life is breathed into sinful man.

The Bible is called God's word because it is closely linked to Jesus. Like Jesus, it can be said to be both human and divine. It is divine because it reveals to us God and God's plan. But it is also the work of human authors and reflects their knowledge, culture, and biases. It is through their words that the Bible reveals God's nature, God's saving work in the world (salvation history) and god's purpose for man - including our lives.

The study of the Bible is a task of seeking and loving wisdom. It is the effort to discover the truth about God and the world and our place within it, and to find thereby guidance for how we are to live.

The truths found in Scripture are universal and enduring truths. It is literatutre as an aid to wisdom. We approach the truth piously and study it reverently. It is, as it were, a letter from God to us - His counsel and wisdom for a good and happy life. Scripture offers us wisdom based on divine revelation and relying on prophecy.

The beginning of wisdom comes from awe and reverence, and the goal is not understanding for its own sake, but rather a righteous and holy life. The Psalmist sings that "the heavens declare the glory of God and the sky proclaims his handiwork." But "the beginning of wisdom is the fear (awe, rreverence) of the Lord, and good understanding comes to all who practice it."

Some consider the Bible to be a sacred guide gook for human existence. Students should do more than simply read the stories and learn the words. kThey will learn what the text meant and means - how the text was interpreted in the past, and the particular moral lesson the text embodies, or how a certain passage is to be applied in everyday life.

The emphasis is on Jesus Christ, the central figure of the New Testament, and he who had been foretold, we believe, in the Old Testament. St. Francis de Sales based much of his spirituality on the Bible, often quoting passages to make a specific point when preaching or writing to his congregation.