We have organized the Bible studies on the website by books of the Bible or themes in the following categories:
The Old Testament section contains studies based on some of the books of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Samuel, Psalms, Isaiah, Daniel, the Wisdom Literature, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, and Joshua and Judges).
The New Testament section contains the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John); the Book of Acts; and the Letters of Paul (Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, Thessalonians, and Hebrews); the NT Epistles and Revelation.
Our current themed studies include: Reading the Bible; Formation of the Biblical Canon; Reformation History; Women in the Bible; Easter & Passover; and Incarnation.
The Bible studies vary from 2-12 weeks in length. Each Bible study contains a series of 15-30 minute video conversations between two Yale Divinity School professors, as well as a study guide, discussion questions and additional resources to support the study. If you’d like to print out materials and make binders for your group, you can find covers and spine labels here.
This depends on your level of prior study and/or the interest of your group. If you are just getting started with studying the Bible, we suggest you begin with Reading the Bible. This short Bible study supports the reader’s ability to access and embrace an incredible and inspirational piece of literature, moving from a view of the Bible as history to a broader understanding. If you and/or your group is more experienced with small group Bible study, select any that are of interest.
Once you have chosen a Bible study, dive in! Feel free to click on the blue ‘Start Now’ button that is found in each Bible Study if you want to “keep track” of where you are. Then, under “Curriculum”, start with the first post, which is the introduction to the Bible Study. The Yale Bible Study program was created as a resource for small group or individual study. You do not receive credit for completing a study.
No. We provide everything that you need to undertake the study. There are some recommendations for additional reading from books that you can purchase online (Amazon, etc) if you choose to do so. If you are studying as a group and would like to create notebooks for the study, you can find covers and spine labels here.
You can take any of our Bible studies on your own for your personal enjoyment and enrichment. You do not need to complete them with a group.
We have many types of resources under the “Resources” tab. Here you can find information ranging from additional readings, artwork, charts, lectures, maps, sermons, videos, and podcasts to help enrich your study. You can also find the full lectionary calendar with scripture for each week and links to the Yale Bible Study video clips that discuss the scripture.
Yes. Under the “Events” drop down, you can view our upcoming and previous events. Currently all of our events are online.
Yes. You can create a private group on the site via the Community option. It’s best to set up your private group when you first Register on the site as you’ll see an option to complete a group profile and invite participants. If you are already registered and want to set up a private group, please contact kelly.morrissey@yale.edu.
Under the “Community” tab, you will find our YBS public forum. Once you register on the site, simply log-in each time to post questions, answer questions, and have discussions with others. Once registered on the site, you can also take notes within a Bible study.
You must create an account by registering in order to participate in the YBS forum. Click the “Register” button that is found in the middle of the page under the “Community” dropdown. Once you register, you can start posting and replying to others’ posts in the “Public Course Discussion” section.
In the YBS forums, you will see options for “Rules and Guidelines” and “Public Course Discussion”. If you want to comment on a study, create a post by clicking the “Add Topic” button found in the upper right-hand corner of this section. Then select the forum from the dropdown menu. It will populate a form below where you add a topic title, text for the post, and any files or tags you would like to add.
Scroll through the topics in the Public Course Discussion and click on any to see what has been posted.
Click on any of the topics that you would like to respond to. Below the post, there is a section titled “Leave a Reply”. Here is where you can reply to the post.
When you reply to a post, there is a checkbox that you can click in order to subscribe to the post.
On the bottom of our webpage, there is a section, “Join Our Mailing List”. Enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter and other updates.
You can reach us via our “Contact” page. Then fill out the form or email us at megan.lukens@yale.edu