This course of scriptural study investigates the background, growth, contents, and messages of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures and the history from which they emerged. It introduces the results of modern biblical scholarship and its contribution to our understanding of the Bible. The situation, form, content, and message of a biblical text (or book) is studied as an integrated whole in order to arrive at a balanced understanding of the meaning of the text (or book). Attention is paid to the unity and diversity of different representations of various traditions, and the religious ideas behind them. The procedure of exegesis and the use of the pertinent tools are introduced.