St. John's Gospel: A Bible Study and Commentary

by Stephen K. Ray

As Catholics in ever-growing numbers are taking part in Bible studies, many questions arise. How do I study the Bible? Where do I begin? Is it OK to interpret the Bible for ourselves? What Bible should I use? How can I understand such a deep book as the Gospel of St. John? This book has the answer to these and many other such questions. Stephen Ray takes the difficult and makes it easy; he takes the confusion and makes things clear. It gives a simple start for a beginner while providing the depth and profundity for the scholar. This book is one of a kind. It is the first extensive, easy to use and thoroughly Catholic study guide available. This Bible study provides extensive "text boxes" with detailed information that helps students discover the cultural, religious, historical and other information on the specific passage they are studying. It utilizes quotes for a wide range of scholars, historians and specialists to instruct the student and give valuable insights into the background and meaning of the text. This book can serve as a basic Bible study guide for working through the Gospel of John, helping the student plumb the depths of St. John's marvelous and deeply spiritual Gospel. It is excellent for use by individuals or groups, for families or schools.

Genres: Catholic

461 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

About the author

Stephen K. Ray was raised in a devout, loving Baptist family. His father was a deacon and Bible teacher and Stephen was very involved in the Baptist Church as a teacher of Biblical studies and lectured on a wide range of topics. Steve and his wife Janet entered the Catholic Church in 1994.

In addition to running a family business, Steve spends time researching, writing, and teaching about the Catholic Faith. He is the author of Crossing the Tiber: Evangelical Protestants Discover the Historical Church, Upon This Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church, and St. John's Gospel: A Bible Study and Commentary.

He is currently producing a 10-video series for Ignatius Press called The Footprints of God: The Story of Salvation From Abraham to Augustine, filmed on location in the Holy Land.

Reviews

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm using this as the basis for a Bible study on John. It is EXCELLENT! Steve Ray is a firehose of questions and information and it is much easier to create a good worksheet by deleting some stuff than by having to come up with it on my own. Between the questions (and each 'question' will have several sub-questions each with one to several Scripture references) are interesting notes concerning the theology, culture, anthropology, word usage, church teaching, history, the thoughts of church fathers, law etc etc etc that flesh out the text even further.

I've heard Steve Ray say that he has a personal library of 20,000 books (a library with a kitchen, he says) and that 5000 of them are on John's Gospel. The Bibliography in this book is huge and so I believe him. There is an extensive index and a cross-reference list to Scripture passages referred to.

Now it's not laid out all neat with questions and blank lines, but if you're willing to work your own way through this, you as the teacher will gain SO much and you will be able to prepare lessons at your class's level of interest. I'm leading a group of about 20 older ladies and gentlemen and you would not believe how they are learning and how interested everyone is! And because the text is SO thorough and so conducive to good conversation, it has taken us a year to finish the first 6 chapters of John and we meet every week!

Very highly recommended. Very.