Description:
Nowadays it’s fashionable to introduce “great books” to our children in their Christian paideia or educational training. We, however, recommend the best Book—the Bible. If our children want to learn to read and think, the first and core content of their study must be the Bible. These are God’s stories, and our children should know all the stories of Scripture by the time they are reading on a fifth grade level.
Avoiding the piecemeal approach to Bible stories, the authors of this course instead present the whole story, the unity of Scripture, the true message intended by God. It is a redemptive story. While there may be moral lessons to glean here and there, the core message of Scripture is the work of God in redemption. This is the story the Bible presents from cover to cover and is the story focused on in this reading course.
如今，越来越多基督教家庭在孩子的教育中重视阅读各种“经典名著（Great Books）”。然而，本课程首先推荐孩子认真阅读那本最重要的书——圣经。如果我们希望孩子真正学习阅读与思考，那么圣经应当成为他们学习中最核心的内容之一。这些是上帝所启示的故事；当孩子的阅读能力达到五年级程度时，他们应当对整本圣经中的主要故事有全面的认识。
本课程避免把圣经拆成一个个彼此独立的故事，只强调其中的道德教训，而是帮助孩子看见整本圣经是一个完整、统一的故事，并认识上帝透过圣经所启示的核心信息。
这个贯穿整本圣经的故事，就是上帝的救赎故事。
圣经中的许多故事确实包含值得学习的品格和道德功课，但圣经最核心的信息并不是单单教导我们“怎样成为一个好人”，而是启示上帝如何施行祂的救赎计划。
从《创世记》直到《启示录》，这条救赎主线贯穿整本圣经，而这也正是本阅读课程希望孩子能够认识、理解并掌握的核心。