How to Read the Bible

'A fiercely intelligent theologian and historian' - The Independent

'Miranda gives us the confidence to sit and taste the Bible's profound and life-changing goodness.' - Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York

As a vicar, Miranda Threlfall-Holmes is used to being asked to recommend a book on how and why to read the Bible. Filling the gap between popular Bible reading notes and more academic books, How to Read the Bible is the book she'd give to anyone wanting to explore the Bible as part of their faith. Its three main sections delve into the rich heritage of how Christians have read the Bible down the ages:

Part 1 - ways that scripture itself uses other parts of scripture, or models and demonstrates different ways of reading

Part 2 - historical methods of biblical interpretation

Part 3 - the insights and methods of modern theological hermeneutics

Encouraging readers to try out a variety of tried and tested ways of Bible reading How Read the Bible is a refreshingly hands-on approach to understanding this ancient library of texts.

'Exhilarating and hands-on ... Miranda Threlfall-Holmes provides a fantastic guide' - Fergus Butler-Gallie

Please note: this book was previously published under the title How to Eat Bread: 21 Nourishing Ways to Read the Bible in 2021.

'An encouraging book about reading scripture' Church Times
a novel approach to reading the Bible and deepening faith Life & Work
The psalmist says that God's word is sweeter than honey. Miranda Threlfall-Holmes writes for us as one who has tasted God's word, found it to be good and nourishing, and now wants us to eat as well. She invites us on a journey of discovery; the delights and challenges of the Bible as food for the journey of life. Lots of books tell us what the Bible is about. Few explain to us how to read it. But drawing on different traditions of reflective biblical reading, Miranda gives us the confidence to sit and taste its profound and life-changing goodness. Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York
The Bible is a beautiful, inspired, ancient sacred text. It's full of God's wisdom and nourishment - but frankly it can also be confusing and indigestible without a guide. In How to Eat Bread Miranda guides us to read well, and through reading to live well, as we come to taste the wonderful food that God gives us through scripture. Highly recommended! Paul Bayes, Bishop of Liverpool

To me, the Bible is one of the most beautiful and dangerous texts in the world - beautiful because it points towards unimaginable glories, dangerous because it is so easily used as a weapon to judge, condemn, harm. We need wise companions like Miranda Threlfall-Holmes to help us find the Bible's beauty while refusing to weaponize it. There's really no book like How to Eat Bread - honest about the Bible's challenges, inspired by its wonders, informed about its scholarship and full of practical ideas for reading the Bible as you would eat good bread.

Brian D. McLaren, author of Faith After Doubt
For any Christian - or, we might argue, anyone wanting to have even a cursory understanding of how our globalised world got to think and be as it does and is - reading the Bible ought to be as natural as breathing or, as this exciting new book puts it, eating bread. All too often reading the Bible can seem - even to Christians - a scary or taxing task. In this exhilarating and hands-on book Miranda Threlfall-Holmes provides a fantastic guide to the many and varied ways that we can get real nourishment out of Scripture. The Church is in great need of ways to re-engage people with the joys and challenges that reading the Bible can bring and - whether it is for a set group or just the curious individual reader - this marvellous book is a fantastic starting point for that process to begin. Fergus Butler-Gallie, author of A Field Guide to the English Clergy
Are you baffled by the Bible, stumped by the Scriptures? Try Miranda Threlfall-Holmes's new book for help. How to Eat Bread provides many different ways of tasting the Word of God. No need to read it all in one go. Just dip into it, alone or with a group. Miranda Threlfall-Holmes draws on her wide experience in parishes, as university chaplain and as mother, to suggest various ways of reading the Scriptures, suitable for different persons and for different times. Try them. You will not be disappointed. Cardinal Michael Fitzgerald

Miranda Threlfall-Holmes writes with a freshness and an urgency that draw the reader into her subject matter in compelling ways.

This volume discusses in accessible form Scripture's own methods of interpreting the story of God's engagement with creation, the Church's interpretations across history together with the ways in which modern hermeneutical scholarship discloses the inherited texts and their freshness for successive generations.
Whether you are beginning this journey or are a seasoned campaigner, you will find something here to enrich your understanding and enjoyment of Scripture.

Michael Jackson, Archbishop of Dublin
Miranda Threlfall-Holmes's latest book is a feast of delicious morsels. How To Eat Bread is an invitation to read the Bible as a staple of our spiritual life, and yet more: the book is infused with a passion that dares to wrestle with the Bible's trickier aspects as well as its sublime simplicity. In a book that will feed both individuals and groups, Threlfall-Holmes wears her learning lightly. By daring to knead scripture into the insights of tradition and reason, she has produced a 'recipe book' for anyone wanting to discover why the Bible is the greatest companion on the way to God. Taste, eat, and be fed! Canon Rachel Mann, priest, scholar and author
Reading Revd Dr Miranda Threlfall-Holmes'S How to Eat Bread, I discovered the practical guide to reading the Bible I did not realise was missing in my life. Even with nearly 40 years' studying the Bible, she revealed to me new insights, techniques, and doorways for engaging the scriptures. Peterson Toscano, LGBTQ human rights campaigner and creator of Transfigurations - Transgressing Gender in the Bible

How to Eat Bread is a terrific guide to many of the methods scholars and teachers use to access the deep meaning of the stories of the Bible. Short of just eating the pages of your Bible, Miranda's book offers almost all methods of consuming the richness of the Bible, the bearer of very good news for today.

If you are hesitant to read your Bible on your own or wondering how preachers know what they say they know, How to Eat Bread lifts the veil. This is a great tool for study and devotional reading of the Bible.

Rev. Winne Varghese, Trinity Church Wall Street, New York

Miranda Threlfall-Holmes is a well-known writer and public speaker, and is currently Team Rector of the St Luke in the City, Liverpool. She is passionate about popularising and explaining complex ideas for a non-specialist audience and has written for publications including the Church Times and the Guardian. She is the author of six previous books: an academic monograph Monks and Markets (OUP, 2005); two textbooks, Being A Chaplain (SPCK, 2011) and The Essential History of Christianity (SPCK, 2012); and the Prayer Experiment series for SPCK.

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