Kerala Catholic Bible Society

K C B C Bible Commission

Malayalam Page

Bible Correspondence Course

Eligibility Syllabus Registration Fees Application Form

Preface

Christians today are especially interested in reading, studying, praying in the spirit of the Bible and in building up a life centered on it. We need exegesis to understand the Bible. The Bible Correspondence Course conducted by KCBC is a programme helping the common people to study the Bible.

Aim

To realize Christian unity based on the word of God through study based on the bible, meditation, prayer and sharing.
To make a renovation of life by the force of the word.
To share the modern Biblical intentions through the analysis and explanation of Biblical texts.
To highlight the importance of the intuitions as regards Christian life.
To offer opportunity for those who cannot attend the Bible course, to study the Bible at home using their spare -time.

Eligibility

Anyone who is interested in Bible studies and has sufficient knowledge of Malayalam can participate in this course.

Syllabus.

The course consists of 5 units. The first three units are for the study of New Testament and the rest for the study of Old Testament. In each unit there will be 6 to 8 books containing more than 100 pages in each . The time allotted for the study of one book is three months. Each student must study and answer the questions appended to each book and send to the Bible correspondence Course office. Only then the second book will be sent. The grade is decided on the basis of the marks scored.

History

The decision to begin a Bible Correspondence Course was taken on 18th February 1988 by an advisory Council of Bible missionaries, held in P O C. Rev. Dr. Abraham Pezhumkattil who was the secretary of the KCBC Bible Commission at that time went to NBCLC and studied the details of the Bible Correspondence Course conducted by that institute. He made the Emblem, Application Form, Prospectus etc. Mr. Sunil Njavally helped him in these activities. The registration to the course began in December 1988. Rev. Sr. Perfecta CMC helped in editing the books for the Correspondence Course. The nine books of the course are the translations of NBCLC's textbooks. In 1989 March, the first book, on St. Mark's gospel, was published [15000 Copies]. The books were translated by Prof. Joseph Mattam. The course was inaugurated formaly on 5th March 1989.

Method of Study

Study: Through different stages, one can study the whole Bible.
Share the message: The course is prepared in such a way that the participants can use it for meditation and sharing in families, religious houses, Bible study circles and prayer groups.
Use for prayer: Bible must be studied in the spirit of prayer and it must lead to prayer.
Renewal of life: The method to be used is: begin against the background of life, enter the word of God and find a model of inspiration to renew life.

Books

As we have mentioned the first nine books were the translations of the NBCLC texts. Due to the delay in getting the NBCLC texts, and taking into consideration the peculiar situation of Kerala Christians, we decided to prepare the texts for ourselves.

Click here to view the complete list of books.

Certificate

Certificates will be given to those who successfully complete the course. Those who complete the study of New Testament will get "Diploma in New Testament studies." Those who complete the whole course will obtain "Diploma in Biblical Studies".

Registration

Anyone with eligibility can register his/her name at any time and get the first book and begin to the study.
The registration can be done at any time for one unit or for 2,3,4 or 5 units together.
Those who register once for the first unit need not register for other units. Instead they may remit the fees for the other units.
Those lay people who need concession as regards the amount of fees may apply for the same with a letter of testimony from their Fr. Vicar. It will be considered.
The course registered in one-person, name cannot be transferred to any other person.

Fees

Units	In India	Outside India
1	Rs. 90/-	Rs. 800/-
2	Rs. 150/-	Rs. 1400/-
3	Rs. 240/-	Rs. 200/-
4	Rs. 300/-	Rs. 2800/-
5	Rs. 375/-	Rs. 3500/-

Present Situation

Already 6117 persons have registered their names for the course and they are engaged in study. The certificates for 952 persons, who have completed the first and second units, have been distributed. The "Diploma in New Testament Studies" has been distributed to 306 persons who have completed first, second and third units.

Contact classes are being conducted for the participants of the course every year. This year the classes were conducted for the participants from the dioceses of Ernakulam, Varapuzha, Kothamangalam, Kochi, Kottappuram and Alapuzha on 20th April 2002 at P.O.C, Palarivattom. And the classes for the participants from the dioceses of Kanjirappally and Pala were conducted on 27th April 2002 at Pastoral Institute of Pala, and for the participants from Thrissur and Irinjalakuda classes were conducted on 4th May 2002 in the Pastoral Centre of Thrissur. For the participants from the dioceses of Changanacherry, Kottayam, Vijayapuram and Thiruvananthapuram classes were conducted on 25th May 2002 at Marthoma Vidyaniketan, Changanacherry. Moreover contact classes were conducted on 2nd June 2002 at Thrissur Assisi Provincial House and on 30th November and 1st December 2002 at St. Joseph's Orphanage, Alapuzha.

Those who desire to participate in Bible Correspondence Course may fill up the Application Form and apply with the necessary fees.

Kerala Catholic Bible Society
P O C, Palarivattom, P B No. 2251, Cochin, Kerala, India - 682 025.
Phone: 0484-2805897, 2805722, 2805815, Fax: 0484-2805897, Email : secretary@keralabiblesociety.com