Catholics listen to snippets of the Bible read every Sunday, but how many of them actually sit with and ponder the text? 

It’s long been a truism that Catholics don’t actually read the Bible — at least not as much or in the same way as their Protestant brethren.

But that doesn’t mean Catholics don’t encounter it, whether in books, films, plays, or popular culture. 

On this episode, Fordham theology professor and frequent Commonweal contributor Michael Peppard, author of the new book How Catholics Encounter the Bible,  joins editor Dominic Preziosi to discuss how, paradoxically, the Bible shapes Catholic lives—just usually not in the shape of a book. 

For further reading:

• Michael Peppard on the Bible and Marian art
• Christian Wiman on the Bible as poetry
• Eve Tushnet on the queer Catholic imagination