Take the time to look in the **Catechism of the Catholic Church ** from around paragraph 40 to 151 (give or take a few paragraphs), to get an overview of the Church’s teaching on scripture and revelation. The CCC is a summary of the Church’s teaching and it can be used to help clarify anybody’s interpretation of scripture (in a lot of cases). You always want to end up agreeing with the Catechism.
There are a few guidelines there for digging deeper into scripture or for conversing with a Catholic bible scholar or teacher.
So, that’s not so much reading, to start off with. Then consider this:
Scott Hahn and Mike Aquilina work together on a website called the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, which is at
www.salvationhistory.com
They recommend a book called **Path to Freedom ** by Fr.Jean Corbon. This book is a bit tough to read, because of the author’s style. It was a bit hard for me to get up into his frame of mind, but it was well worth it. This book is spiritual explanation of the Bible (an overview). The ‘spiritual’ explanation of scripture is briefly explained in the CCC, but this book is a good example of it == very high quality.
They also recommend a book by Fr. Damasus Winzen, which is a book by book introduction to the bible. I think the book is
Pathways in Scripture. I picked it up and have just started it myself. I got sidetracked immediately by some great ideas in the very first chapter. This book started out as a series of articles, which means the chapters are quite self-contained.
( He mentions something profound right away. He points out how the Word of God was expressed 1) in creation (“Let there be light” for example), 2) in scripture (for example, the OT was inspired and contains the covenant that God made with man), and 3) in Jesus Christ (Chapter One of John’s gospel: The Word was made flesh.) From Corbon’s book, you will learn how the Word of God was also expressed in the Eucharist, the Word of God is a liturgy (the Mass).
From EWTN, I’d recommend you consider the study on the gospel of St. John by Tim Grey. This was a series of programs that explains that gospel.
There’s so many places to go from that point on, depending on your interest.
Corbon’s book delves a bit into Old Testament ( also called the Hebrew Scriptures ) as it must, to explain “big picture” concepts in scripture.
This Catholic Answers website is a good place to search for topics that are of interest to you and to ask questions (to make us think, too) about the OT.
