As we begin a new year, we thought it might help our readers to compile various reading plans that they might use both to read through the Bible in a year and to tackle some other great works in Christian theology. Below you will find reading plans for the Bible, Augustine's City of God, Thomas's Summa, Calvin's Institutes, and Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics.
Bible Reading Plans
There is obviously no lack of Bible reading plans you can choose from. But if you belong to an ecclesial tradition that uses a lectionary with daily Bible readings, one of the simplest things to do is to practice the daily office with the scripture readings prescribed by your church.
Lectionary Reading Plans
If you are Anglican, this link will take you directly to the assigned lessons for the day following the Book of Common Prayer's daily readings. That said, I would highly recommend simply buying the 1662 International Edition of the BCP from InterVarsity Press (don't miss the free additional resources on the IVP page for the book) along with the companion volume on How to Use the Book of Common Prayer by Samuel Bray and Drew Keane, who edited the International Edition.
In fact, I'd commend both of the above books to you even if you are not Anglican—the daily office used in the 1662 IE is amenable to any Protestant tradition I can think of and the volume on how to use the BCP is really just a marvelous book about the ins and outs of historic Christian prayer and daily piety. If you follow the lead of Kirsten Sanders and think about the life of Christian discipleship as being a bit like learning to "speak Christian," to adopt the practices and habits and ways of living of a new family, then Bray and Keane's volume is a bit like having a primer on the whys and hows of the family's traditions and practices. Of all the books I read last year, I don't think I read any better than that one.
For other ecclesial communions:
The Orthodox Church in America has supplied a guide to their lectionary for 2025 which you can access here.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod has a PDF document of their lectionary readings for this year.
The Roman Catholic Church's lectionary readings can also be found online.
For individual reading plans that can be used in your home or with a group from your church, you can try any of the plans listed below. That being said, I have begun to think lately that there might be more value than I'd previously thought to following a prescribed reading plan passed down by a church. I've been attempting to incorporate the BCP's morning and evening prayer into my devotional practice recently and found it immensely rewarding. Bray and Keane do a wonderful job in their book of explaining why certain passages are read on certain days in the church year.
So if you are a Protestant and not Anglican (as I am—I'm a quite content Presbyterian), I'd still suggest a certain value in adopting something like the 1662 International Edition reading plan.
McCheyne Reading Plan
The most common plan in my circles has tended to be the McCheyne plan, so named for Robert Murray McCheyne, the Scottish pastor who developed it as a way to structure private and family devotionals and to allow him to get through the Psalms and New Testament twice a year and the rest of the Old Testament once a year.
You can sign up to receive an email every day with that day's reading.
My friend Jacob Gerber, a Presbyterian Church in America pastor in Omaha, NE, has created Free Daily Bible Study. It is another valuable resource that includes a short written devotional to accompany that day's reading on the McCheyne plan.
You can also read D. A. Carson's devotionals on the day's passage.
One Story in Two Years
My wife's old Bible teacher, Fran Sciacca, has created an interesting reading plan designed to walk you through the redemptive story of Scripture over two years.
One Story in Two Years
The Bible Reading Plan for Shirkers and Slackers
This plan designed by author Margie Haack (who is also a personal friend) is still another approach: In this system, you have assigned readings for every day, but the books are batched by day of the week, so if you miss Monday, you don't have to make up before Tuesday; you just read it the next Monday and continue on Tuesday.
Bible Reading Plan for Shirkers and Slackers
Alastair Roberts Bible Reflections
Alastair has published a series of video commentaries on the entire Bible which are available for free on his YouTube channel.
You can also access audio files of Alastair's commentary on his personal site. Finally, there are also transcriptions of much of his commentary available as well.
Crossway Bible Reading Resources
Finally, Crossway has put together some excellent resources to aid you with your Bible reading this year.
Theology Reading Plans
Secondarily after Scripture, there is also great help and aid to be found in the riches of Christian theology as written by our fathers and mothers in the faith. Below you can find reading plans for reading key works from five of the great theologians of the church—St Augustine, St Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, Herman Bavinck, and Karl Barth.
Augustine's City of God
I do not recall who first created this list, but some time ago someone shared a reading plan with me to get through all of the City of God in one year—you'll actually finish it in October with this plan and that includes catch-up days.
Download City of God Reading Plan
Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae
One of the greatest benefits of reading Thomas is not simply the normal benefit of reading great theology, although that is very much a benefit. But you learn as much from his method as you will his conclusions. He is rigorous, methodical, and careful—and will at times surprise you.
One note on this plan: Due to the size of the Summa, this plan has you reading it over two years with assigned readings for each week.
If you have trouble getting a complete copy of the Summa to read, you can read the entire Summa online.
Download Summa Theologiae Reading Plan
Calvin's Institutes
Though Calvin was not at the time perceived as the authoritative voice in the Reformed tradition (on which more in a moment), over time his work has stood the test of time as the preeminent dogmatic work to come from the 16th century Protestant Reformation.
Download Calvin's Institutes Reading Plan
Herman Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics
Several years ago Aaron Armstrong created a reading plan to get through the Reformed Dogmatics in about half a year. If you need convincing that it is worth your time, Jess Joustra's cover essay from our fourth print issue might be of interest.
View Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics Reading Plan
Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics
Barth is someone I've never spent much time with, though I know I ought to remedy that. But if you've wanted to read him and haven't known where to start, I also tracked down a reading plan for the Church Dogmatics.
Note: The simplest way to get the full Church Dogmatics is probably to get the Logos e-book set.
View Barth's Church Dogmatics Reading Plan
Jake Meador
Jake Meador is the editor-in-chief of Mere Orthodoxy. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Commonweal, First Things, Books & Culture, The Dispatch, National Review, Comment, Christianity Today, and Plough. He lives in his hometown of Lincoln, NE with his wife and four children.
