I was brought up just outside Skipton and moving to Ilkley in September was like coming ‘home’. It has brought back happy memories of childhood trips to Ilkley – to the Cow and Calf, to the Lido, to Betty’s and (for me especially) visits to the Grove Book Shop. I loved looking for and then choosing a book, and I still relish browsing today.

Christians like me give special honour to one book, the book we call Bible. The word Bible comes from the Greek word for ‘book’. In fact, the Bible is not simply one book but a collection of books which together make up a rich and varied library. Within its covers different voices from different times speak to us; there are narratives and laws, poems and prophetic oracles, letters and visionary writings. The Bible exhibits the enormous range and diversity of the written word.

As much European art and literature indicates, people for many centuries and from all sorts of social backgrounds were once familiar with the Bible and its stories. Sadly, that may not now be true, and particularly in the case of what is commonly called the ‘Old Testament’. “The Old Testament is Dying” declares the title of one of the books on my shelves. This is a great shame because it contains many fascinating and extraordinary pieces of writing: there’s the complex simplicity of the book of Genesis, or the thrilling but chilling narratives of the books of Judges, Samuel and Kings; there’s the sensual beauty of The Song of Songs – or the sheer weirdness of the prophet Ezekiel.

I’ve often thought it would be interesting to form a reading group to interrogate and contemplate these texts from the ‘Old Testament’. If anyone would be interested, do get in touch. Some of it may not always be the easiest of reads but, whether you’re a person of any faith or none, it’s certainly worth giving a few hours of your life to exploring some of these ‘dying’ books in greater depth.