Over at the Classical Liberal Arts Academy ^[1] website there is a great article by Biblical Theologian Dr. Nathan Schmiedicke (who is the brother of some friends of mine) entitled Why Study the Bible? ^[2],  which looks at the reasons to study the Scriptures in the context of a classical liberal arts education. An excerpt:

“Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ!”

These bold words of St. Jerome contain a deep truth. The God-given goal of our existence is nothing less than God Himself. And yet, as the catechism has it: in order to be with God forever in Heaven, we must first love him and serve him in this life. But to love him and serve Him in this life we must first know him.

Well, how can we know God in this life? The classical answer to this question is that we can know God in two ways: through reason and through revelation.

REASON: MAN REACHING OUT TO GOD

We can know many things about God simply through the use of our reason exercised on ourselves and the world around us. However, because of our fallen human nature, these truths about God (which are the most important of all truths!) can only be arrived at by a few really wise people, after a really long time and a whole lot of effort. Plus, it is inevitably the case that there is a lot of confusion and error mixed in with these.

REVELATION: GOD REACHING OUT TO MAN

The wonderful thing about revelation is that it is a superior way of knowing God that comes to us from God Himself. It is available to everyone who has faith, right now, and without the error mixed in. Plus there is the added benefit that God can reveal more about himself to us than we would ever be able to figure out about Him from reason alone.

WRITTEN REVELATION: THE BIBLE

A primary way God reveals Himself and His will to mankind is through the Scriptures. Before (and after) the Word of God became a man (John 1:14), the word of God became a book. Unlike all other books, however, the Bible is not simply human words, but is really the word of God, “living and active” (Heb 4:12). Because of this, the Bible has always been at the heart of the Church’s liturgical, devotional, intellectual, and practical life. This word, since it is God’s word, is simply better and more important than any other words that are out there.

Go read the entire article here ^[2].