This is my one-year reading schedule through the Bible. My theory is that, once we are all pretty comfortable with Old Testament history, much theological insight can be gained by reading the biblical books in approximate order of composition of their final drafts as they appear in our Bibles.
There are many chronological reading plans out there. This plan is not one of them. No books are sliced up with other books inserted here and there—except for Isaiah which has textually obvious break points. Acts remains intact. The order does not follow Old Testament history. It follows composition order.
I think that reading the Bible in this order opens up the reader to appreciate the theological development expressed in Scripture. We will experience how theology adapts under pressure. We may learn why historical stress is an important motivator for God's people to search longingly for understanding of the divine.
Rather than a chronological reading plan, this is a theological development reading plan. You are invited to give it a go yourself.
There are a few weeks that are a little light (e.g., Obadiah and Joel) that prepare the reader for the heavier sessions ahead. They also afford the reader a chance to begin readings like Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Psalms a little early and spend a bit more time with them.
Plan updated 2025 12 30
ONE-YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN
IN COMPOSITION ORDER
FOR THEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
by NEIL SHORT
I. Assyrian Period Voices
(Theology under imperial threat)
Weeks 1–6
Week 1 — Amos
Justice demanded amid prosperity.
Week 2 — Hosea
Covenant love strained by betrayal.
Week 3 — Micah
Judgment announced against power.
Week 4 — Obadiah & Joel
National trauma reframed theologically.
Week 5 — First Isaiah (Isaiah 1–39)
Holiness confronts political illusion.
Week 6 — Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk
Judgment becomes unavoidable.
II. Babylonian Crisis Voices
(Theology during catastrophe and displacement)
Weeks 7–10
Week 7 — Jeremiah
Faithfulness redefined amid collapse.
Week 8 — Lamentations
Grief given sacred speech.
Week 9 — Ezekiel
Presence reimagined without land or temple.
Week 10 — Second Isaiah (Isaiah 40–55)
Hope reborn without denial.
III. Deuteronomy & the Deuteronomistic History
(Interpreting failure after loss of the land)
Weeks 11–16
Week 11 — Deuteronomy
Law re-spoken after failure.
Week 12 — Joshua
Promise remembered through obedience.
Week 13 — Judges
Freedom without faith fractures society.
Week 14 — 1 Samuel
Kingship debated under pressure.
Week 15 — 2 Samuel
Power tested by covenant.
Week 16 — 1–2 Kings
This is why the exile happened.
IV. Torah as Canonical Synthesis (Tetrateuch)
(Identity reconstructed after judgment)
Weeks 17–20
Week 17 — Genesis
Origins reread through loss.
Week 18 — Exodus
Liberation remembered as identity.
Week 19 — Leviticus
Holiness preserved without a temple.
Week 20 — Numbers
Failure incorporated into memory.
V. Post-Exilic Voices
(Who is Israel?)
Weeks 21–24
Week 21 — Haggai & Zechariah
Restoration urged amid disappointment.
Week 22 — Third Isaiah (Isaiah 56–66)
Identity is for everyone who keeps covenant. All the faithful are Israel.
Week 23 — Ezra–Nehemiah
Identity must be protected or it dissolves. Only returned exiles are Israel.
Week 24 — Malachi
Faith sustained when fervor fades.
VI. The Writings (Ketuvim)
(Wisdom wrestles with unresolved tension)
Weeks 25–32
Week 25 — Psalms (Books I–II)
Prayer stabilizes faith.
Week 26 — Psalms (Books III–V)
Praise survives loss.
Week 27 — Proverbs
Order asserted.
Week 28 — Job
Order contested.
Week 29 — Ecclesiastes & Song of Songs
Meaning questioned; love affirmed.
Week 30 — Ruth & Esther
Faithfulness in hiddenness.
Week 31 — Daniel
Hope survives empire.
Week 32 — 1–2 Chronicles
History retold to sustain identity.
VII. Earliest Christian Voices (Before Gospel Narrative)
(Faith practiced before memory is fixed)
Weeks 33–38
Week 33 — James
Ethics without biography.
Week 34 — Hebrews
Christ confessed without story.
Week 35 — 1 Thessalonians
Hope strained by delay.
Week 36 — Galatians
Identity freed from Torah.
Week 37 — 1–2 Corinthians
Community fractured; resurrection clarified.
Week 38 — Romans
Theology systematized under pressure.
VIII. Theology Under Constraint (Prison Letters)
(Christology deepens in confinement)
Weeks 39–40
Week 39 — Philippians & Philemon
Joy and reconciliation under suffering.
Week 40 — Colossians & Ephesians
Christ and the church universalized.
IX. The Jesus Tradition (Synoptic Memory)
(The story told to sustain belief after loss)
Weeks 41–43
Week 41 — Mark
Suffering Messiah remembered.
Week 42 — Matthew
Teaching embodied in narrative.
Week 43 — Luke
History reassures faith.
X. Continuity After the Apostles
(From movement to institution)
Weeks 44–45
Week 44 — Acts
The Spirit carries the mission forward.
Week 45 — 1–2 Timothy & Titus
Faith stabilized for the long haul.
XI. Late First-Century Closure
(Faith without resolution)
Weeks 46–52
Week 46 — 1 Peter
Suffering normalized.
Week 47 — John
Eternal life reframed.
Week 48 — 1 John
Community tested by division.
Week 49 — 2 & 3 John, Jude, 2 Peter
Truth defended; delay explained.
Week 50 — Revelation
Hope kept alive through imagination.
Week 51 — Reflection: Law, Christ, Community
How theology adapted under pressure.
Week 52 — Reflection: Hope, Delay, Faithfulness
Living with unresolved promises.
