Professor Grant Horner's

Bible-Reading
SYSTEM Professor Grant Horner's unusual, challenging, and life-changing
Bible-Reading System is unlike any other you have ever seen. Try it for
ONE MONTH and find out for yourself! You will never be the same.

"I have more wisdom than all my teachers, for thy testimonies www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=46416541831. There
are my meditation." Psalm 119:99, right-hand page, left-hand you can make posts about your struggles, the effects it is
column, dead center of page. having on your biblical understanding and discernment, and
to encourage others.
Many people ask me how it is that I know precisely where
virtually everything is in my Bible. The answer: this system. But one more note before we start. I remember very clearly
in 1983, when my soon-to-be father-in-law handed me his
I began in 1983 (adapting and tweaking the basic design of old but unused 1967 Scofield Study Bible as an off-the-cuff
another system) as a brand-new convert; within 3 years I gift. I had never seen a good study Bible before, and was just
knew the text of my Bible very well. Twenty-five years later it starting to listen to MacArthur and Swindoll and Stanley on
is essentially imprinted on my mind and heart. I have been all the radio. I was determined as a new believer to get to know
over the country and have taught this system in many the Bible. So I adapted the present system and have tweaked
churches. I have done open-microphone Q&As on Bible and it many times since.
theology -- with 1200 people in the audience -- as well as
cultural-analysis live radio shows where you have to think fast Its present form dates from the mid-1990s when I was in
-- and it has been the "imprinting" value of this system that doctoral work at UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke and wanted to
has helped me provide quick, clear, heavily contextualized keep my head screwed on somewhat straight. That old
scriptural answers. Scofield was literally read to tatters by then -- covers
absolutely gone, spine vanished away, glue-backing visible
I have no Seminary degrees, no Bible-college or Christian and all curled up, stitching coming apart, the prefatory
school education -- hey, I never even went to Sunday school. material destroyed all the way up to Genesis 1 and the
All I did have was a chair, a lamp ... and my Bible. concordance vanished past the entry for "sin." But as a poor
grad student, I had no money for a quality re-bind.
This is not merely a speed-reading program, nor is it a 'study'
system. Read the description provided here to see how it Sometime later, I was flown out by Masters College for a
works. DO NOT be intimidated! I was a college dropout, 3-day interview/grilling process. The culmination was, of
ex-heavy-druggie when I started it. If I can do it -- so can you! course, being ushered in to Dr. MacArthur's private study,
which is where he asked me his one question: "Can I see your
TRY IT FOR A MONTH. Then tell me what is Bible?"
happening! (Contact information provided on the last page.)
You can also join the Facebook group I created for this I thought he would be horrified, because it looked like it had
system at been through a typhoon -- it looked unloved and neglected.
Something from a dumpster. It was unbound, with stringy Acts a dozen times, and all the way through the OT History
mess and paper debris hanging out. I was so embarrassed. I and Prophetic books about 1 ½ times. Since the interweav-
thought he would chastise me and recommend I get a new ing is constantly changing, you will experience the Bible
study Bible if I was serious about the Word. commenting on itself in constantly changing ways -- the
Reformer's principle of 'scriptura interpretans scripturam' --
However he flipped through it and handed it to his wife and 'scripture interpreting scripture' IN ACTION!
said, "If your Bible is falling apart, you probably aren't." And I
was basically hired on the spot. After you’ve read any particular book once or twice, your
speed in that book usually doubles or triples because you’re
I have done the system sometimes doubling up (2 sets per familiar with it and can move quickly and confidently --
day, or 20 chapters), and other times by alternating days (5 because you are no longer merely decoding the text but
chapters per day). The key is to get into a habit for a month. thinking it through in the context of all of the scripture!
Then you'll see you've probably been starving yourself.
Even an ‘average’ reader, if focusing on moving through the
The very best effect it has is rapid, broad-scale contextualizing text, rather than trying to figure everything out, can usually
across both testaments and all the different biblical genres. do this in about an hour a day – 5-6 minutes per chapter.
Did you know about all the similarities between Ecclesiastes Many people report moving confidently through the ten
and 2 Corinthians? How about the relationship between chapters in 35-40 minutes. If it is taking you longer, then you
Deuteronomy and Matthew? It is like no other system that are ‘reading wrong’ – stay relaxed, focus, and just keep it
way, and it provides constant variety (which humans love) as moving. Moderate but consistent speed is the key. This is
well as consistent conviction (which humans hate). "gross anatomy" -- looking at the whole body; you're not
closely studying organs or systems or tissues or cells -- it is
I'd love to hear any thoughts you may have on facing up to the not microbiology. BUT -- microbiology and the study or
challenge, how you are doing in your first days, first week, first organs makes more sense when you know what the whole
month.... structure of the human body is like, and how all the parts,
large and small, relate in perfect interdependence.

The System After just a few days the reading gets much easier; in a month
Each day you will read one chapter from each of ten lists. it will be a habit, and in six months you’ll wonder how you
That’s right -- ten chapters per day!!! Use ten bookmarks ever survived before on such a slim diet of the WORD. And
or sticky notes with the individual lists on them to keep track then -- you'll tell others to start the system!
of your locations. Or use the set of bookmarks provided on
the last page of this document. I began in 1983 as a new Christian and have now read (most
of) the Bible hundreds and hundreds of times. You also need
On day one, you read Matthew 1, Genesis 1, Romans 1, and to get ONE Bible, keep it, and do all your reading in it, so you
so forth. On day 2, read Matthew 2, Genesis 2, etc. On day 29, learn where everything is. I’ve had the same Bible since 1983
you will have just finished Matthew, so go to Mark 1 on the and I know it intimately. If you keep switching Bibles, you
Gospel list; you’ll also be almost to the end of 2nd Corinthi- ‘lose’ this intimacy with the text. Find a translation and
ans and Proverbs, you’ll be reading Psalm 29 and Genesis 29, format you like and stick with it. THIS IS CRUCIAL.
and so forth. When you reach the last chapter of the last book
in a list – start over again. Rotate all the way through all the Your Bible is the only thing on Earth that, as you wear it out,
Scriptures constantly. will actually work better and better.

Since the lists vary in length, the readings begin interweaving Please share this Bible-reading system with all the Christians
in constantly changing ways. You will NEVER read the same you know, as well as anyone who is thinking about reading a
set of ten chapters together again! Every year you’ll read Bible, even for the first time.
through all the Gospels four times, the Pentateuch twice,
Paul’s letters 4-5 times each, the OT wisdom literature six Put these instructions in your Bible
times, all the Psalms at least twice, all the Proverbs as well as and review them from time to time.
The Ten Lists • There are different ‘kinds’ of reading: super-quick skimming, careful
moderate-paced, studying the text, deep meditation. You should be
between the first and second kind.
List 1 (89 days)
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John • Most people decrease their time spent and increase their retention after
just two-three weeks! I now read and retain the entire text of Matthew in
List 2 (187 days) 35 minutes, Romans in 20, Genesis in one hour!
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
• Don’t look up anything you ‘don’t get’ – real understanding will come
through contextualizing by reading a LOT of scripture over time. Get
List 3 (78 days) through the text!
Romans, I&II Cor, Gal, Eph, Phil, Col, Hebrews
• If you miss a day or two – ok, get over it, then keep going. Don’t cover
List 4 (65 days) yourself in sackcloth and ashes and quit! Move the bookmarks along, to
find your place(s) quickly next day.
I&II Thess, I&II Tim, Titus, Philemon, James, I&II Peter, Heb 4:12&5:11-14; Eph 5:26&6:17; Col 3:16; 2 Tim 3:16; Ps 119; Ezra
I,II&III John, Jude, Revelation 8; Prov 3: 1-2, 10:14; Dan 1

List 5 (62 days) • If you are wondering why you should read Acts (or Proverbs) all the way
Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon through every single month, then -- you've just shown that you NEED to
read them that often!

List 6 (150 days) • The goal of this system is simple, and twofold: To know scripture, and to
Psalms love and obey God more!

List 7 (31 days) SOLI DEO GLORIA

Proverbs

List 8 (249 days)

Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I&II Samuel, I&II Kings, I&II
Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther

List 9 (250 days)

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel,
Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zepha-
Professor
niah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi Grant Horner
Professor Horner’s
List 10 (28 days) academic specialty is the
Acts literature, theology and
philosophy of the Renais-
sance and Reformation,
with primary concentration

Secrets to Success in Milton, Shakespeare, Erasmus, Luther, Calvin and late

sixteenth and seventeenth century poetry and prose. He is an
Associate Professor at The Master's College north of Los
• Read one chapter from each list each day; in one sitting or two. At the Angeles, and is also Chair of Humanities at Trinity Classical
end of a book; go to the next book. At the end of the list; start it again. Do Academy (http://www.trinityclassicalacademy.com/).
it in the order given above. CONTACT:
ghorner@masters.edu
The Master’s College, Department of English
• Read quickly (without “speed-reading”) in order to get the overall sense. 21726 Placerita Canyon Road
Read as fast as you comfortably can with moderate retention. You’re not Santa Clarita, CA
http://www.masters.edu/academics/profiles.asp?depname=6
studying deeply or memorizing; shoot for 5-6 minutes per chapter. At the
end of a chapter, move immediately to the next list.

• GET THROUGH THE TEXT – no dawdling, back reading, looking

up cross-references!