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Winner of a third-place award in Spanish books from the Association of Catholic Publishers. Love for the Bible is at the heart of Hispanic Catholicism. This basic introduction teaches lay ministers and other interested Catholics how to interpret the Bible as the Church does and to appreciate the role of the Holy Spirit who animates the Word in our everyday lives. Rev. Rafael M. Ramirez--a scripture scholar at the University of Dallas and popular speaker throughout the United States--shows how the loving self-communication of God in scripture can be interpreted and applied to our lives in powerful ways.
La Biblia: Introducción a la Sagrada Escritura offers Hispanic Catholics a foundation for understanding the Bible and praying with it in harmony with the traditions of the Church. By approaching the Bible as loving communication--as encouraged in the
Catechism of the Catholic Church and in recent statements by Popes Benedict XVI and Francis--the book's three-part structure helps us understand how the Word of God has passed through three great stages in salvation history:
- the Revealed Word--God reveals himself in words and deeds
- the Inspired Word--the Bible is the Word of God because it is inspired by the Holy Spirit
- the Interpreted Word--the Church interprets the Word
In
La Biblia, you will learn the difference between a Catholic approach and a literalist or fundamentalist approach to reading and understanding the Bible. You will come away with the realization that the scriptures have been shared and interpreted by the Church since the beginning, helping us to understand our faith as we strive to live it today. This concise book will help you appreciate that scripture is, and always has been, present in the Church and that the Bible belongs to the whole Church. It is a living reality that resonates with ordinary people today as it did twenty centuries ago.
This book is only available in Spanish.
About the author
Rev. Rafael M. Ramírez is the Cynthia and David Freeman Professor of Sacred Scripture at the Ann and Joe Neuhoff School of Ministry at the University of Dallas, where he also is an affiliate assistant professor. He is a priest in residence at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Dallas, Texas.
Ramírez earned his bachelor's degree in philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1991 and his bachelor's degree in sacred theology from the Pontifical Anthenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome in 1994. He earned his licentiate in biblical studies in 1998 at Rome's Pontifical Biblical Institute, where he also received his PhD in biblical sciences in 2008.
Ramírez is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the Catholic Biblical Association, Associazione Biblica Italiana, and the American Schools of Oriental Research.
Ramírez was born in Arandas, Jalisco, Mexico, and graduated high school in Salamanca, Spain. He is the coauthor of two books,
Pentateuco and
Libros Proféticos II. He is a frequent conference speaker and leads educational pilgrimages to the Holy Land.
