# Bible literacy in the days of illiteracy **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 28, 2025, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267 "2025-03-28T17:30:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/41 "2025-03-30T15:24:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@Bullitt](#): > > > > The lectionary does not include every verse in the Bible. Only selected verses that alternate through the tests. A typical lectionary cycle is 3 years. For my church, Lutheran ELCA, it is 3 years commonly labeled A, B, and C. > > Aside from a handful of readings from the deuterocanonical/apocryphal (depending on who you ask) books, Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Presbyterians, and a few other sects all use the same lectionary. Is that true also for the Orthodox churches like the Coptic church? I don’t think so but I could be wrong on that. I’m pretty sure it would have to be different because they follow a different schedule. > [@Chronos](#): > > > [@Bullitt](#): > > > > Added – more on this. The churches when I was growing up only had lectionary excerpts, and they never had the complete bible in any of the pews. I didn’t like that, only having carefully-selected excerpts available to you but not the entire bible. > > They only have the lectionaries in the pews. Every church I’ve ever heard of has multiple complete bibles available, and will gladly let you read them if you ask. But that’s part of the problem: you have to ask. It’s much better to have a complete, basic Bible in the pews for people to browse at their leisure. What’s more, the complete lectionary is rarely available in the pews. IME you typically see only selected excerpts from the lectionary. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2025, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/42 "2025-03-30T16:13:36Z")
But the pews aren’t where people are sitting at their leisure. The pews are where people are sitting for the service, and so they contain the readings that will be used for the service. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/43 "2025-04-02T01:39:21Z")
Radial: No pews back in the day. People stood in the nave. As they still do in many Orthodox church buildings. I have to admit, I wondered about the scene of the wedding in _Mamma Mia!_ It’s the Greek Islands, not Texas. But I’ve never been there. (FWIW, the last time I attended a ‘uniting church’ service in Melbourne, there were no bibles in the building other than the one used by the minister). ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/44 "2025-04-02T14:44:22Z")
The churches I’ve attended (all United Methodist) only had a few bibles in the pews. Most people brought their own bible. Many of the bibles in the pews were those left there by congregants, since people tended to sit in the same place every service. The scriptures read during a service would be printed in the program in any case. Of course, these days everyone who wants to can have multiple bibles on their phone. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/45 "2025-04-02T17:02:14Z")
I’m Lutheran, and the Lutheran churches I’ve been to all have bibles in every pew. A stark difference from the Roman Catholic churches I attended as a kid growing up where they only had booklets in each pew. They are called Missalettes and they have only excerpts from the RCL, revised common lectionary. No bibles. That’s why when I changed churches and started going to Lutheran churches, I’d joke, “Oh! So this is what a Bible looks like!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267.md?page=2)