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Do you want to gain perspectives and skills that will enrich your reading, interpreting, and teaching of Scripture? Old and New Testament faculty at Candler School of Theology will help you engage the Bible for all its worth.
Sample Content
One free preview lesson from each of the four units — no registration required.
What You'll Learn
Practical skills and scholarly perspectives — from canon formation to word studies — that will permanently change how you read, teach, and preach Scripture.
We explore the fascinating history behind the formation of the biblical canon — the collection of sacred texts considered authoritative by various religious traditions.
Different translations reflect distinct approaches to language, theology, and cultural context. We unpack what those differences mean for readers and teachers.
Our culture, ethnicity, gender, and life experiences shape the questions we ask of the text and the meanings we draw from it. This unit makes that dynamic visible.
From the legal codes of the Torah to prophetic visions, Gospel narratives, parables, and epistles — each genre requires its own approach. We provide the frameworks to navigate all of them.
Word studies, structural outlines, poetic analysis, and inter-biblical readings — concrete methods that deepen your engagement with any passage of Scripture.
Curriculum
Each unit builds essential interpretive skills — moving from the history of the text itself, through the tools of reading, to how your own context and the genre of a passage shape every encounter with Scripture. 65 lessons across 4 units — 579 minutes of content in total.
How did the Bible come to be? This unit traces the remarkable history of canon formation — which texts were included, which were debated, and what makes a collection of ancient writings authoritative for faith communities today.
Why are there so many Bible translations — and does it matter which one you use? This unit explores the principles behind major English translations and equips you to use them wisely in teaching and study.
We never read the Bible from nowhere. This unit explores how our social location — culture, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, and life experience — shapes what we notice, what we question, and what we find in the text.
Law, prophecy, gospel, parable, epistle — each genre requires a different approach. This unit introduces genre-specific reading strategies alongside practical tools: word studies, structural outlines, poetic analysis, and inter-biblical reading.
Your Instructors
After earning degrees at Princeton University (BA in Chemistry) and Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv), Ryan completed his PhD in Hebrew Bible at Emory University. His research and teaching interests include biblical metaphors, the Bible and Poverty, the Ten Commandments, ancient Near Eastern iconography, and Old Testament theology. He is currently working on a book exploring the biblical theology of the Sabbath (Westminster John Knox).
Ebby holds a PhD in New Testament from Emory University, with a dissertation focused on the wilderness in Luke-Acts. Through both The Candler Foundry and Candler's MDiv program, she teaches courses on the Gospels, Romans, 1–2 Corinthians, and Luke-Acts. Her research areas include the literary interpretation of Scripture, humor and emotion in the Bible, and the intersection of the church and the academy.
How It Works
65 lessons across 4 units — 579 minutes of content in total. Move through each lesson at your own pace — no deadlines, no schedule, no expiration date.
Short, focused video lessons from Dr. Ryan Bonfiglio and Dr. Ebby Arnold — watch on your schedule, revisit anytime.
No required live sessions. Learn whenever it fits your schedule — mornings, evenings, weekends, whenever.
No deadlines, no cohort schedule — begin whenever you're ready and progress through the material entirely on your own timeline.
Earn 8 Continuing Education Units and a Candler Foundry certificate upon successful completion of all four units.
Start immediately at your own pace.
No application, no schedule — just enroll and learn.