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Bible & Sacred Texts

Home Learning Bible & Sacred Texts

Join us

to read, explore, discuss and interpret biblical texts and their ancient contexts from diverse perspectives.

What makes a text sacred and what role do we then expect it to play in our lives?

As a sacred text in the Christian tradition, the Bible continues to have profound religious and cultural influence today, and biblical literacy is a valuable skill in both religious and secular contexts.

At Sarum, we seek opportunities to read, explore, discuss, and interpret sacred texts with a view to having a greater understanding of their relevance, power, and limitations, as well as gaining skills for reading them responsibly in and for our contemporary world.

 

I loved this course, and can’t wait for the next one. It gave all of the depth and challenge that I’ve been looking for, but I also feel like you dug up a few of the paving slabs of my faith; which is never a bad thing.

— Exploring Theology participant

This course was really inspiring. How can we understand and interpret what he teaches us without setting it in the context of the Hebrew Bible? And how can we do that without knowing something of the Jewish approach to Scripture?

— Reading Scripture Together participant

Open to all

Looking for opportunities to do some deeper biblical study?

We offer a stimulating, creative, and supportive environment to deepen your reflective, theological, and pastoral practices in reading and interpreting scripture.

Short courses and supported research on the Bible and sacred texts and their impact on faith, culture, and spiritual development are available either as part of our advertised programme or via bespoke offers.

Find out more

Jayme-Reaves
Dr Jayme Reaves, Programme Leader

I love teaching and the favourite part of my job is helping people make connections between scripture, their beliefs, and the ways in which we live and engage with the world around us. I particularly love the Hebrew Bible and ways of reading it that make it come alive in all of its complexity and richness.

My training is as a public theologian with specific interests in feminist and liberation methods, and I have a keen interest in helping congregations, organisations, communities, and individuals to reflect on both developing theologies on specific public issues such as race, gender, economics, and immigration. But I am also interested in helping people learn to think more deeply about theology’s public impact by considering what we believe and how we talk about theology and religion in ways that shape and influence culture, both for good and for ill.

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Biblical Study Breaks

These courses offer an intensive immersion in a biblical theme, book, or genre-led by innovative scholars who bring fresh insight and perspectives to the study of the text.

Reading Scripture Together

This conversational one-day course series will re-read selected sacred texts in detail and consider the ways they have been interpreted, both in the written word and in art, and on their relevance and meaning to us today.

Exploring Theology: Living with the Bible and Belief

Sarum College’s flagship Exploring Theology programme is for anyone who wishes to deepen their knowledge of and relationship with the Bible and Christian teachings through intellectually rigorous, interactive, and accessible learning.

This is a two-year course designed so that students can join in at any time. Year A focuses on Exploring the Bible, serving to equip students with knowledge and tools to read and encounter the Scriptures faithfully and fruitfully in their own lives.Year B focuses on Exploring Christian Belief, which serves to help students see the bigger picture in relation to developments and themes within the Christian tradition.

View full details

 

 

Bespoke Training Programmes in Biblical Studies

Biblical study days and conferences by request; these have included deanery and diocesan days and conferences as well as church and organisational learning programmes.

Related Short Courses

View all courses

Reading Scripture Together: Bathsheba and David 

06 February 2023

This online day will delve into the narrative texts as they appear in 2 Samuel 11-12 ...

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Moses, Mount Sinai, and Early Christian Mystics

07 February 2023

The Exodus narrative of Moses’s experiences on Mount Sinai fascinated early Christian mystics. They ...

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Preaching from Palm Sunday to Easter – The Wondrous Story

13 March 2023

Palm Sunday to Easter is at the heart of our gospel, but how do we ...

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Exploring Theology Winter 2023

28 March 2023

Winter 2023: Exploring Modern Developments in Theological Conversations Sarum College’s flagship Exploring Theology programme is ...

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Meet the team

Jayme-Reaves

Dr Jayme Reaves

Director of Academic Development

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The Revd Paul Burden

Dean of Ministry

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julia-mourant

The Revd Julia Mourant

Programme Leader for the Sarum Course in Spiritual Direction and Tutor in Spiritual Formation and Biblical Studies

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Visiting Scholars, Bible & Sacred Texts

Rabbi Shoshanna Boyd Gelfand

Shoshana Boyd Gelfand is a senior member of the London-based Pears Foundation team and director of the foundation’s operating programme, JHub.

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The Revd Azariah France-Williams

Azariah France-Williams is a priest at the Ascension Hulme, a member of the HeartEdge church network which focuses work around four C’s: congregations, culture, commerce, and compassion.

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Pádraig Ó Tuama

Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet and theologian who brings interests in language, conflict and theology to his work. He hosts Poetry Unbound from On Being and his work has been published in Poetry Ireland, the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day and Harvard Review, among others. His books include volumes of poetry, prayers and prose. From 2014-2019 he was the leader of Corrymeela, Ireland’s oldest reconciliation community.

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Helen Paynter
Dr Helen Paynter

Helen was a nephrologist (kidney doctor) when God called her to Baptist ministry. She trained at Bristol Baptist College and then became Associate Minister at Victoria Park Baptist Church in South Bristol, where she worked part-time for six years. She is now Associate Minister at Westbury on Trym Baptist Church, Bristol.

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Learning

  • Prospective Students
  • Theology, Imagination & Culture
  • Christian Spirituality
  • Bible & Sacred Texts
  • Exploring Theology
  • Human Flourishing
  • Leadership Learning
  • Spiritual Direction

Postgraduate study & research

  • Postgraduate Study in Christian Spirituality
  • Postgraduate study in Theology, Imagination & Culture
  • Postgraduate study in Theology, Ministry and Mission
  • Library

Ministry

  • Ordination
  • Licensed Lay Ministry / Readers
  • Independent Study
  • Parish-based pioneer ministry
  • Postgraduate Award
  • Rural ministry
  • Undergraduate Award

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