This is no doubt true as to more literary style based critiques of the various biblical books and the intentions of the various authors. But there had long been study of the history portrayed by the Bible and the lessons to be learned from it There may not have been much emphasis on navigating one’s way through the Bible . But Catholics who were educated about they Faith knew a far amount about the content of the Bible, even if they didn’t realize where that content came from.I was not saying there was “no” scripture teaching. Outside of mass, bible study was minimal before Vatican II and shortly thereafter until changes began to be implemented. Most religious education was from the Baltimore catechism and such. It was not about learning the Bible.