Why Biblios?

One of the things I absolutely love about participating in Biblios is the live experience of building community. I am currently hosting two courses, and each session is different, each conversation is different, each experience of learning is different. Whilst we are seeking to draw out the same truths from these ancient texts in engaging ways (putting maps together, playing with cards, watching videos filmed on location), we are also ‘live’: building joyful, thoughtful, brave communities.

According to the BBC’s Loneliness Experiment survey 40 percent of young people feel lonely compared to 27 per cent of over 75s. By 2025/2026, the number of over 50s experiencing loneliness will be 2 million. In the longest study on happiness in the world - the Harvard Study on Adult Development - the finding was simple: the single, greatest, most significant contributor to happiness is relationships. Consequently, a lack of deep relationships is bad for our physical health too. These health conditions are linked to chronic loneliness: cardiovascular health risks, increased blood pressure, depression, and increased risk of dementia. To misappropriate a famous lyric: loneliness is literally killing us softly.

This is not new news. We all know this. And we all agree: we are social animals and in order to thrive, we need to be in community. So why don’t we just build community? Why is it so hard for us to mitigate against this pandemic of loneliness with building community? Even acknowledging our wholly immersive, radically individualistic, consumerist, social context, why can’t we even live easily with the one person we are supposed to love the most in the world? Why is it so hard to do the first and most basic thing of being a human, relate well to another human?

And this is Why Biblios? We not only build community, but we also discover reality. Contrary to current popular opinion – we are not in fact, merely social animals, we are heaven on earth spaces. What do I mean by that? We are mammals. Yes. We are material. Yes. We are dust. Yes. But we are also glory: we are completely and fully and inextricably integrated spiritual material beings. We operate in the seen realm and the unseen realm, in the scientifically quantifiable realm and the prophetically discerned realm, in the natural realm and the supernatural realm. And these two realms so fully overlap in the construct that is the human being, that we cannot name where one ends and the other begins. We are spiritual. Yes.

The biblical narrative helps not only understand the why of our fractured, atomised, radically individualistic lives but the library of ancient scrolls also points to the Who who can heal us. The One who is heaven on earth, the One who is integrated, whole and deeply loving, the One who is true humanity. Biblios is an overview of the Bible course designed for all styles of learners in community in order to encounter the One who restored our capacity to love.

To find out more visit: bibliosadventure.com or to reach out to Alice with any questions, please email alice@bibliosadventure.com